[*     NOV  25  1907      *] 


BV   600    .K4    1907 

Kern,  John  A.  1846-1926 

The  idea  of  the  church 


THE   IDEA   OF  THE 
CHURCH 

ASPECTS,  FORMS,  ACTIVITIES 


BY  JOHN  A.  KERN 

Professor  of  Practical  Theoloav  in  Vanderbilt  University 


"  The  actual  is  precious  because  it  carries  in 

its  heart  ideal  meanings." 


Nashville,  Tenn.  ;  Dallas,  Tex. 

Publishing  House  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South 

Smith  &  Lamar,  Agents 

1907 


COPTRIOBTSO,  1907 

BY 

SUITH  &  LaUAK 


TO 

MY  STUDENTS 

OF  THE   PRESENT  AND   OF  THE   PAST 

IN 

CHRISTIAN  INSTITUTIONS 


•'When  the  man  arises  with  a  servant's  heart  and  a 
ruler's  brain,  then  is  the  summer  of  the  Church's 
content. ' ' 


CONTENTS 
I 

ASPECTS 

I  PAGE 

As  THE  Kingdom  of  God  Represented 3-22 

What  is  the  kingdom  of  God? 

1.  Its     institutional     expression     in     the 
Church  of  Israel  and  of  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  Other    views    of    the    relation    of    the 
Church  to  the  Kingdom. 

3.  Significance    of    the    title    kingdom    of 
heaven. 

4.  The  one  work  of  the  Church  to  promote 
the  coming  of  the  Kingdom. 

n 

As  THE  New  Israel 28-43 

The  old   and  the  new  in  the  teaching  of 
Jesus. 

1.  Is  the  Church,  like  the  Kingdom,  contin- 
uous through  Judaism  and  Christianity? 

2.  Jesus  and  the  apostles  whom  he  trained 
recognized  no  new  Church. 

3.  Neither  did  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles. 

4.  Here,  then,  is  the  ecclesiastical  succes- 
sion. 

5.  "What  Jesus  did  in  founding  the  Church. 

6.  Liberty     and     unity     in     the     apostolic 
churches, 

(V) 


vi  Contents 

ni  PAGE 

As  A  Communion  and  Congregation 44-68 

The  moral  and  religious  kinship  of  hu- 
manity. 

1.  How  communion  becomes  congregation. 

2.  May  little  children  be  included? 

3.  Fellowship  in  Christ  the  supreme  forma- 
tive principle  in  the  Christian  congregation. 

4.  Hence  of  necessity  the  oneness  of  the 
Church. 

5.  Here  appears  a  characteristic  life-force 
of  Christianity. 

6.  This  fellowship  from  the  Divine  side. 

IV 

As  Visible  and  Recognizable 69-92 

Shall  we  speak  of  the  "visible"  and  the  "in- 
visible" Church? 

1.  Visibility,  as  illustrated  in  the  early 
Church,  does  net  imply  oneness  of  organiza- 
tion. 

2.  It  does  not  imply  organization  at  all, 
strictly  speaking,  but  only  congregation. 

3.  What  are  the  notes  of  a  church  of 
Christ? 

4.  The  distinction  between  organization 
and  congregation  must  still  be  kept  in  mind. 

Church  pride  is  to  think  too  meanly  of 
one's  church. 


n 

FORMS  AND  RELATIONS 
I 

Economy  of  Forces:   Organization 95-118 

The  tendency  to  organize. 
1.  The   motives   and   the   inevitableness   of 
organization  shown  in  the  apostolic  churches. 


Contents  vii 

PAGE 

2.  No  one  could  have  foreseen  the  various 
forms  of  church  organization. 

3.  All    such    forms    are    embodiments    of 
ideas. 

4.  Organism,  mechanism,  organization. 

5.  The  Christian   idea  of  office   is  that  of 
service. 


Church  and  State:  Ancient,  Medieval 119-137 

Delicacy   of   the   relation   between   Church 
and  State. 

1.  In  ancient  heathendom  and  in  Israel. 

2.  In     the     apostolic     and     post-apostolic 
churches. 

3.  Under  Constantine  and  his  successors. 

4.  The  politico-ecclesiastical  idea  of  the  pa- 
pacy and  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 

5.  The    politico-ecclesiastical    idea    of    the 
Eastern  Church. 


Church  and  State:   Modern 138-159 

No  essential   change  effected   here  by  the 
Reformation. 

1.  Why  should  this  have  been? 

2.  The  protests  of  the  Independents. 

3.  The  argument  for  the  union  of  Church 
and  State. 

4.  The  American  opportunity  for  the  free 
Church. 

5.  The  independent  cooperation  of  Church 
and  State. 

6.  The  Church  and  the  public  school. 
The  free  Church  a  rediscovery. 


viii  Contents 

IV 

The  Churches  and  the  Church:  Divisio.\ 160-180 

Freedom  and  schism. 

1.  The  good  of  denominationalism. 

2.  The  evil  of  denominationalism. 

V 

The  Churches  and  the  Church:  Federation.  181-200 
Knowledge  a  preventive  of  bigotry  and  sec- 
tarianism. 

1.  Is  denominationalism  inevitable? 

2.  The  present  movement  toward  unity. 

3.  The  three  proposed  methods  of  reunion. 

4.  The  direction  of  the  movement  must  be 
from  within  outward. 


Ill 

ACTIY1TIE8 

I 

The  Fellowship  of  Work:  Lay  Organizatiqn. 203-230 

In  what  sense  the  Church  is  not  a  mother 

and  the  minister  not  a  pastor. 

1.  The  division  of  labor  imperfectly  exem- 
plified. 

2.  The  New  Testament  idea. 

3.  Lay  preaching  in  the  apostolic  churches. 

4.  Obstruction  of  the  initial  movements  to- 
ward lay  organization. 

5.  Their  revival  and  development  in  Prot- 
estantism. 

6.  The  pastor's  relation  to  the  fellowship  of 
work. 

7.  The  illustration  afforded  by  the  Sunday 
school  and  the  Young  People's  Societies. 


Conients  ix 

PAGE 

Function:    Proclaiming,   Teaching,    Spiritual 

Nurture    231-253 

The  functions  of  a  church  are  the  combined 
activities  of  its  individual  members. 

1.  Charisms,  ancient  and  modern. 

2.  The   Church   doing   what   Christ   would 
do:  the  office  of  preaching. 

3.  The  office  of  teachfng. 

4.  The  office  of  spiritual  nurture. 


Function  :  Beneficence  254-278 

Has  the  Church  any  except  directly  spirit- 
ual functions? 

1.  The   Church   State   of   Israel   ministered 
to  the  whole  man. 

2.  How  was   this  ministration   fulfilled   in 
Messiah? 

3.  The  apostolic  and  post-apostolic  church- 
es were  beneficent  institutions. 

4.  The  present  demand  for  ministrations  to 
the  physical  and  the  social  nature. 

5.  The  development  of  the  Open  Church. 

6.  Critical  estimate  of  the  Open  Church. 

IV 

The  Constitutional  Forward  Movement:   At 

Home    279-299 

The  world-wide  work  of  the  Church  is  one. 

1.  The  unevangelized  people  of  the  great 
cities. 

2.  "The  bitter  cry  of  outcast  London." 

3.  The  Social  Settlement. 

4.  The  Wesleyan  Forward  Movement. 


Contents 

5.  The  Salvation  Army. 

The  Church,  now  as  always,  constituted  for 
aggression. 


The     Constitutional     Forward     Movement: 
Abroad  300-320 

1.  The  Church  of  Israel  not  distinctly  mis- 
sionary. 

2.  The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  was  commis- 
sioned by  him  as  a  missionary  society. 

3.  The  decline  of  missionary  zeal  and  its  re- 
vival in  the  monastery. 

4.  Protestantism  not  at  the  first  a  mission- 
ary movement. 

5.  The  century  of  missions. 

What,  then,  is  a  church  of  Jesus  Christ? 

VI 

Consummation:    The   Kingdom   of   God   Real- 
ized   321-347 

What  shall  the  end  be? 

1.  Possibilities  of  character  and  the  world 
as  a  realm  of  law. 

2.  Voices  of  promise  and  hope. 

3.  Prophetic  significance  of  the  earth. 

4.  Prophetic  significance  of  human  history. 

5.  Prophetic  significance  of  the  past  history 
of  the  Church. 

6.  What  is  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of 
God? 

7.  The  final  fulfillment  of  the  idea  of  the 
Church. 


PEEFACE 

To  represent  a  study  of  the  Church  in  a  little 
book  of  three  or  four  hundred  pages  may  seem  a 
presumptuous  effort.  For  the  subject  is  practi- 
cally limitless.  But  of  what  subject  into  which 
one  may  think,  indeed,  may  not  the  same  thing  be 
said? 

There  are  those  who  covet  a  knowledge  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  both  its  outer  forms 
and  its  inner  idea.  They  would  see  with  some 
truer  vision  this  celestial  City,  "the  Jerusalem  that 
is  above"  and  yet  crudely  visible  on  earth,  as  it 
was  designed  to  be,  as  it  is,  and  as  it  shall  be.  The 
present  sketch  is  an  expression  of  such  a  desire. 
The  Church,  actual  and  ideal,  in  its  most  sig- 
nificant features,  is  what  it  would  invite  the 
reader  to  contemplate.  Nothing  more  is  at- 
tempted. But  even  so,  a  measure  of  time  and  at- 
tention such  as  this  outline  study  shall  demand 
may  be  worth  while. 

The  theological  thought  of  our  time  is  busy 
about  many  questions,  which  concern  either  the 
emphasis  or  the  essence  of  Christian  doctrine.  As 
to  results,  it  repeats  the  world-old  story  of  min- 
gled success  and  failure.  Among  other  things,  it 
has  placed  an  unwonted  emphasis  upon  the  truth 
that  the  one  all-inclusive  purpose  of  the  Church  is 

(xi) 


xii  Preface 

to  make  the  kingdom  of  heaven  a  universal  reality 
on  earth.  But  if  this  witness  is  true,  then  the 
knowledge  of  the  Church  is  the  knowledge  of  that 
Divine  institution  through  which  distinctively,  as 
a  human  society,  the  paramount  purpose  of  the 
ages  is  to  be  wrought  out.  An  inquiry  into  such 
a  subject  can  hardly  be  rated,  as  to  interest  and 
value,  lower  than  the  highest. 

It  is  here  compressed  within  as  small  an  amount 
of  text  as  seemed  practicable.  In  the  footnotes, 
which  have  also  been  prepared  with  exceeding 
jealousy  of  space,  it  is  hoped  that  a  fair  selection 
of  illustrative  matter,  and  such  references  to  au- 
thorities as  are  likely  to  be  called  for,  will  be  found. 


INTRODUCTOEY 

That  which  is  familiar  is  not  necessarily,  nor 
even  "usually,  well  known.  It  is  likely  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  matter  of  course,  exciting  none  of  that 
"wonder"  which,  in  wise  Lord  Bacon's  phrase,  is 
"the  seed  of  knowledge."  Yet  there  is  nothing 
that  needs  to  be  pondered  more  intently  than 
the  commonplace.  Of  measureless  unappreciated 
worth  is  many  an  object  which  lies  open,  in  its 
external  features,  before  everybody's  eyes  from 
morning  to  evening  and  from  day  to  day. 

Such  an  object  may  be  a  Divine  institution, 
powerfully  affecting  one's  own  life  and  happiness, 
and  of  immense  world-wide  significance.  It  may 
be  the  Church  of  God. 

Certainly  to  persons  who  have  grown  up  in  a 
Christian  home  and  community,  the  Church  is  a 
very  familiar  fact.  Its  signs  appear  and  its 
influences  are  felt,  with  more  or  less  distinct- 
ness, continually.  In  childhood  it  is  taken,  like 
parental  providence,  or  sunshine,  or  air  to  breathe, 
as  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  things  that  could 
not  have  been  otherwise.  It  is  much  spoken  of, 
sometimes  critically,  but  for  the  most  part  sympa- 
thetically. Sweeter  than  life  in  not  a  few  in- 
stances are  the  associations  to  which  it  gives  rise^. 
AVhen  complained  of  or  resisted,  still  it  may  exert 
B  (xiii) 


xiv  Introductory 

upon  the  spirit  an  indefinable  compelling  power. 
Its  members  are  asked  to  do  many  things  in  its 
service.  Its  ministers,  relieved  from  the  embar- 
rassment of  all  other  employments,  devote  their 
lives  to  the  promotion  of  the  interests  for  which  it 
stands. 

iSTow  tliese  things  do  not  imply  that  tlio  Church, 
in  its  essential  idea,  must  needs  be  clearly  thought 
out  or  defined  even  by  its  devoted  servants.  But 
they  do  imply  that  it  would  better  be. 

Does  any  one  fear  that  a  more  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  this  institution,  actually  so  imperfect,  often 
so  worldly  and  untrue — the  congregations  of  the 
apostles  themselves  being  disgraced  by  dissensions 
or  by  drunkenness  at  the  Lord's  table — will  damp- 
en the  devotion  of  its  adherents?  On  the  con- 
trary, it  may  both  enlighten  and  sustain  their 
spirit  of  devotion. 

An  uninstructed  excursionist  in  the  Holy  Land 
is  likely  to  meet  with  disappointment.  He  is  not 
prepared  for  the  sight  of  treeless  plains  and  squalid 
villages,  but  only  for  scenes  of  beautiful  and  sa- 
cred suggestiveness ;  for  is  it  not  the  Lord's  own 
land  upon  which  he  is  looking  ?  Similarly  a  mere 
excursionist  in  the  field  of  ecclesiology  may  be  dis- 
appointed. For  many  of  the  things  he  sees  are 
sadly  different  from  the  same  things  as  pictured 
in  his  own  mind.  Can  this  be  indeed  the  Lord's 
own  inheritance,  "the  Church  of  the  living  God, 
the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth"  ?    But  in  both 


/;/  troductory  x  v 

cases  fact  is  more  illuminative  than  fancy.  Pales- 
tine, as  it  actually  is,  will  serve  better  than  any 
idealized  Holy  Land  to  illustrate  the  Book  of 
whose  "biography  of  Divine  Love"  it  was  once  the 
scene;  and  the  Church,  as  it  actually  is,  forms  a 
most  effective  background  to  the  Church  as  it  may 
and  ought  to  be. 

Too  little  knowledge,  not  too  much,  is  the  dan- 
ger. The  cure  for  any  evils  attendant  upon  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Church  is  a  closer  acquaint- 
ance. The  true,  discerned  thus  amid  its  perver- 
sions or  counterfeits,  will  appear  all  the  more  pre- 
cious. If  any  have  been  inclined  to  grudge  what 
offerings  they  are  making  to  the  Church,  their 
hearts  may  be  enlarged  by  a  real  knowledge  of  this 
kingdom  of  God  as  externalized  on  earth.  If  any 
have  permitted  the  Church  to  come  between  them 
and  the  Saviour,  not  to  mediate  his  power  and 
glory  to  the  soul,  but  to  arrest  the  trustful  love 
that  should  have  passed  on  to  find  its  object  of 
worship  in  himself,  it  is  equally  urgent  that  they 
should  discriminate  more  faithfully  between  sym- 
bol and  substance,  and  not  lose  the  knowledge  of 
their  Lord  in  the  very  ordinances  which  would 
help  to  make  him  known.  If  any  have  habitually 
thought  of  the  Church  in  a  mere  local  or  sectarian 
spirit,  it  will  mark  the  beginning  of  a  new  and 
holier  consecration  to  see  how  much  greater  than 
all  their  outgrown  fancies  is  Christ's  holy  Church 
universal. 


Xvi  Introductory 

Surely  mind  and  heart,  thought  and  reverence, 
the  idea  and  the  self -surrender,  were  made  for 
mutual  service  in  the  pursuit  of  spiritual  truth; 
that  each  might  instruct  the  other. 

On  this  subject  there  has  been  laid  before  us  an 
original  and  authoritative  teaching  in  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  the  Xew  Covenant.  Here 
all  study  of  the  fundamental  principles  and  the 
supreme  design  of  the  Church  must  begin.  It 
does  not  vitally  concern  us,  indeed,  to  know  what 
this  or  that  man,  or  school  of  theology,  or  age,  has 
thought  and  instituted;  but  to  know  the  mind  of 
Christ.  We  go  back  to  him  without  whom  there 
could  have  been  no  Church  in  the  world — its 
Creative  Wisdom,  its  Builder  and  Lord.  So  far 
as  we  shall  be  able,  from  the  words,  the  acts,  the 
spirit  of  Jesus,  as  these  are  shown  in  the  New 
Testament,  to  learn  what  was  the  essential  nature 
of  the  Congregation  of  which  he  was  Founder, 
such  knowledge  may  be  accepted  as  final  and  suf- 
ficient. Let  the  test  of  moral  earnestness  be  the 
open-mindedness  and  fidelity  with  which  his  dis- 
ciples are  willing  thus  to  learn  of  him. 

But  ecclesiastical  history  is  also  replete  with  in- 
struction. It  furnishes  many  confirmations  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  and  his  apostles,  many  painful 
deviations  therefrom,  many  apparently  reasonable 
and  expedient  developments  thereof.  What  the 
New  Testament  would  plant  as  a  germ,  the  subse- 
quent history  will  show  in  growth  and  fruitage. 


Tntrod/udtory  xvii 

On  tlie  other  hand,  alien  growths,  and  fruit  that 
is  not  bread  and  satisfies  not,  will  illustrate  by 
contrast  that  which  bears  the  marks  of  the  true  and 
good.  To  the  thrilling  and  eventful  story  of  this 
heavenly  plant  in  earthly  soil,  much  marred  and 
misused  indeed  by  its  cultivators,  but  never  to  be 
wrested  from  the  care  of  the  One  Husbandman, 
we  must,  therefore,  also  attend. 

The  interest  culminates  in  the  Church  of  to- 
day— in  the  living  present  with  its  opportunities 
and  resulting  obligations.  There  are  readers,  in- 
deed, who  care  only  for  the  past.  Nothing,  wheth- 
er person  or  event,  is  to  them  great  and  beautiful 
till  it  is  somewhat  idealized  by  the  retrospective 
imagination.  They  love  history  for  its  own  sake. 
Like  the  reading  of  fiction,  it  yields  a  certain  in- 
tellectual pleasure.  There  are  others  whose  whole 
delight  is  in  the  present  time.  They  count  it  a 
mere  waste  of  life  to  keep  tracing  courses  of  events 
that  occurred  "in  the  misty  years  gone  by,"  or  the 
careers  of  men  who  have  long  since  been  called  to 
their  account.  The  voice  of  the  present,  not  that 
of  the  past,  is  the  voice  to  which  they  would  listen. 

But  in  point  of  fact  the  two  are  one.  Beyond 
question  the  present  is  explained  by  the  past,  out 
of  which  it  has  come.  The  knowledge  of  3'ester- 
day  is  necessary  to  the  knowledge  of  to-day.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Church  as  it  is  now  may  be  better 
known  and  better  served  in  the  light  of  its  origin 
and  history.     It  is  not  a  case  of  fruit  and  root. 


xviii  Introductory 

where  the  fruit  may  be  satisfactorily  analyzed  or 
thoroughly  enjoyed  and  utilized  without  digging 
down  into  the  dark  soil  to  inspect  the  root.  It  is 
rather  the  case  of  some  old  and  powerful  common- 
wealth, whose  citizens  do  well  to  scrutinize  present 
conditions  through  the  aid  of  its  original  consti- 
tution and  the  experience  of  its  successive  genera- 
tions in  the  art  of  government. 

I  have  thought  that  this  consideration  may  be 
specially  pertinent  to  such  topics  as  Lay  Organiza- 
tion, the  so-called  Open  Church,  and  the  Federa- 
tion of  the  Churches,  in  which  evangelical  Chris- 
tians are  likely  at  this  time  to  be  more  than  or- 
dinarily interested.  Viewed  in  their  historical 
setting,  these  undertakings  are  more  easily  esti- 
mated at  their  real  value  and  served  with  an  abid- 
ing enthusiasm. 

One  more  introductory  word,  which  can  be  right- 
ly spoken  only  in  a  spirit  of  reverent  faith  to 
which  silence  is  oftener  appropriate  than  any 
speech.  To  study  the  Church  as  it  may  be  be- 
lieved to  exist  in  the  mind  and  purpose  of  its 
Founder,  is  to  make  research  into  spiritual  truth ; 
and  such  truth  cannot  be  otherwise  than  spiritually 
discerned.  And  surely  this  is  no  hard  saying,  to 
be  met  with  the  anxious  or  doubting  inquiry,  Who 
can  hear  it  ?  If  one  who  would  write  the  biography 
of  a  man,  or  the  history  of  a  period,  must,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  outfit  of  knowledge,  be  able  to  enter 
sympathetically  into  the  personal  or  corporate  life 


Introdaictory  xix 

he  would  portray,  it  can  be  no  less  true  that  one 
who  would  undertake  to  interpret  an  institution 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  its  development  at  the  hands 
of  his  followers,  must  seek  to  know,  through  an 
inner  experience,  somewhat  of  the  mind  of  Christ 
and  the  motives  of  the  Christian  people.  While, 
therefore,  to  despise  literary  materials,  intellect- 
ual judgments,  or  any  patient  and  diligent  schol- 
arly labor,  would  be  fanaticism,  to  despise  like- 
mindedness  with  Christ,  as  an  organ  of  interpre- 
tation, would  be  presumption. 

What  must  have  been  the  vision  and  forecast  of 
Jesus  when  he  spoke  of  the  "Church"  which  he 
would  build?  It  is  a  question  which  no  man  can 
answer  for  another.  Only  the  Spirit  of  truth  can 
give  the  answer — that  Spirit  whose  method  of 
teaching  is  the  communication  of  the  Christlike 
mind  to  the  truth-seeker.  Apart  from  this  inner 
guidance,  any  knowledge  of  Jesus'  words  or  acts 
or  institutions  can  be  no  more  than  a  body  without 
the  informing  spirit  of  life. 


I 

ASPECTS 


"The  guide  of  Christian  progress  is  the  word  of 
Jesus,  'The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you.' " — 
Henry  yan  Dyke. 

"The  New,  if  it  is  to  be  lasting,  must  always  have 
its  roots  in  the  Old." 

"Let  the  Spirit  of  Christ  fall  upon  isolated  hearts, 
and  immediately  those  hearts  will  want  to  get  to- 
gether. Burn  all  the  churches  in  the  world  with  all 
their  Bibles  and  all  their  creeds,  and  let  but  one 
spark  of  the  Christian  spirit  remain,  and  out  of  the 
ashes  will  come  another  Church." — Charles  E.  Jeffer- 
son. 

"Make  my  prayer  from  beginning  to  end  a  duet. 
Let  it  ever  have  two  voices — my  brother's  and  my 
own." — Oeorge  Matheson. 

"The  individual  and  society  are  two  separate  as- 
pects of  man's  nature,  neither  of  which  must  be  either 
ignored  or  overemphasized.  Either  extreme  gives  an 
unreal  thing  and  plunges  both  theory  and  life  into 
difficulty.  The  real  entity  is  not  the  individual  sepa- 
rately nor  society  separately,  but  the  individual  in 
society  or  the  society  as  composed  of  individuals." — 
Sidney  L.  Oulick. 


AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  EEPEE- 
SENTED 

There  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  clever  young 
Japanese  a  copy  of  "The  Gospel  According  to 
Matthew."  With  no  special  object,  he  began  to 
read  the  book,  and  soon  became  interested  in  its 
contents.  That  which  chiefly  impressed  him  was 
one  of  the  sayings  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount: 
"Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  right- 
eousness." What  could  it  mean  ?  what  is  the  king- 
dom of  God?  This  was  the  question  with  which 
the  newly  won  reader  of  Jesus'  words  came  short- 
ly afterwards  to  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  seeking 
instruction.  Could  he  have  asked  a  more  signifi- 
cant question,  or  one  more  appropriate  to  his  en- 
trance upon  the  Christian  life  and  the  calling  of 
a  Christian  missionary,  which  he  is  now  pursviing  ? 
The  kingdom  of  God — it  was  concerning  this  great 
divine  reality  that  the  first  and  the  last  words  of 
Jesus'  own  ministry  were  spoken.^ 

I  do  not  know  a  fitter  starting  point  for  a  study 
of  the  Church  than  this  initial  inquiry  of  a  student 
of  Christianity,  What  does  Jesus  mean  by  the 
kingdom  of  God? 

»Matt.  iv.  17;  Acts  i.  6-9. 

(3) 


4  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Either  the  name  itself  or  some  synonymous 
phrase  occurs  not  only  in  the  teaching  of  our  Lord 
but  again  and  again  in  the  Scriptures  of  both  the 
Old  and  the  New  Covenant.  Yet  the  Scriptures 
do  not  define  it :  they  are  not  a  book  of  definitions. 
Let  it  be  defined  as  the  accepted  reign  of  God  in 
human  hearts.  The  idea  is  not  political  nor  ma- 
terial, but  wholly  spiritual.  It  is  that  of  the  Moral 
Order,  that  of  God's  righteous  government  of  men 
as  those  whom  he  has  made  to  be  sharers  of  his 
own  life.  Wherever  any  man  hears  the  voice  of 
God  within,  and  willingly  obeys  the  law  of  right- 
eousness which  it  reveals  as  the  highest  law  of  his 
being,  there  the  kingdom  of  God  is  set  up. 

It  may  be  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  where  nei- 
ther the  light  of  Calvary  nor  of  Sinai  has  fallen. 
For  if  the  Spirit  of  God  be  there,  illumining  the 
conscience,  and  the  moral  imperative  of  the  con- 
science thus  illumined  be  obeyed,  God  is  ruling  in 
the  heart  of  that  man.  This  is  the  world-wide 
vision  that  came  to  the  Judaic  apostle  and  helped 
to  make  him  an  apostle  of  the  Son  of  Man :  "Of  a 
truth  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons, but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  him  and 
worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  of  him.''-  In- 
deed, it  seems  to  have  come  dimly  even  to  Caiaphas 
the  high  priest,  when  he  prophesied  that  Jesus 
should  die  not  only  for  the  nation  of  Israel,  'Tjut 

'Acts  X.  34,  35.     Cf.  Rom.  ii.  14,  15,  28,  29. 


As  the  Kingdom  Represented  5 

that  he  might  also  gather  into  one  the  children  of 
God  that  are  scattered  abroad."^  With  which 
Scripture  instances  agrees  the  testimony  of  a  suc- 
cession, broken  but  lustrous,  of  Christian  witness- 
es, from  Justin  Martyr  to  John  Wesley.* 


But  in  Israel  the  Eternal  was  known  and  his 
dominion  accepted  as  nowhere  else  on  earth.  Above 
all,  when  the  Christ  came  his  word  of  annuncia- 
tion to  the  people  was,  "The  kingdom  of  God  is  at 
hand.''  In  himself  it  was  to  appear,  that  vision 
of  the  Heavenly  Order,  as  never  before — in  his 
teaching,  his  personal  life,  his  cross  and  resurrec- 
tion. It  had  always  been  here;  but  it  was  now  at 
hand  in  the  new  world-era  of  the  Christian  reve- 
lation. It  should  be  shown  to  be  the  kingdom  of 
the  Father,  citizenship  exalted  to  sonship — "Our 
Father  who  art  in  heaven.  .  .  .  Thy  kingdom 
come."  It  should  also  be  shown  to  be  the  king- 
dom of  the  Son  of  Man;  for  to  him  was  to  be 
given  the  supremacy  of  the  race,  all  judgment  and 
authority:  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world. 
.  .  .  Art  thou  a  king,  then  ?  .  .  .  Every  one 
that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice.'"^  In  the 
comprehensive  word  of  Paul  to  the  Ephesians,  it 

»John  xi.  51,  52. 

^"Apology,"  i.  46;  Augustine,  "Confessions,"  x.  24; 
Wesley,  "Journal,"  October  11,  1745. 
'John  xviii.  36,  37.    Cf.  1  Cor.  xv.  24. 


6  TJie  Idea  of  the  Church 

is  "the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  God."®  Here,  then, 
among  those  to  whom  the  supreme  Divine  self- 
revelation  has  been  made,  rather  than  among  any 
other  people,  may  we  expect  that  there  will  be  the 
reign  of  God  in  the  heart. 

In  truth,  relatively  speaking,  this  inner  reign 
of  God  may  be  said  to  have  been  first  established 
at  his  coming  into  the  world  in  Jesus  Christ.  All 
that  went  before  had  no  glory  by  reason  of  the 
exceeding  glory  now  shining  forth.  Accordingly 
we  hear  our  Lord  declaring  that  before  the  com- 
ing of  John  the  Baptist  there  were  "tlie  law  and 
the  prophets,"  but  since  his  coming  "the  gospel  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  preached.'*^  Indeed,  he 
speaks  of  the  Baptist  himself  as  an  outsider.^ 
John  was  not  in  the  light  and  glory  of  the  king- 
dom as  it  was  then  about  to  come  with  power 
through  Christ  and  the  Spirit.  He  who  was  "but 
little  in  the  kingdom  of  God,"  therefore,  was  even 
greater  than  its  immediate  herald. 

As  to  the  word  Mngdom  {/Saa-iXeia) ,  it  may  be 
used  in  either  an  abstract  or  a  concrete  sense.  As 
an  abstract  term,  it  means  "kingship,"  "sovereign- 
ty," "royal  power."  As  a  concrete  term,  it  means 
'Tvingdom"  as  this  word  is  nowadays  ordinarily 
understood — namely,  "a  realm,"  "a  territory  and 
people  under  royal  government."®    Our  Lord  uses 

«Eph.  V.  5.      "Luke  xvi.  16.      »Luke  vii.  28. 
*In  English  as  in  Greek  tlie  abstract  is  the  primary 
sense  of  the  word.    The  sufBx  -dom,  meaning  quality 


As  tlie  Kingdom  Represented  7 

the  word  in  both  these  senses :  in  an  abstract  sense, 
when  he  speaks,  for  example,  of  "the  Son  of  Man 
coming  in  his  kingdom";^"  in  a  concrete  sense, 
when  he  says,  "Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heav- 
gjj^ii  There  are  also  some  of  Jesus'  sayings  in 
which  either  sense  would  seem  to  be  appropri- 
ate; for  example,  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand."^^  In  fact,  each  sense  fairly  implies  the 
other;  for  kingship  embodies  itself  in  a  kingdom, 
and  a  kingdom  cannot  exist  without  kingship.  No 
serious  obscurity  therefore,  is  likely  to  result  from 
any  doubt  that  may  arise  as  to  which  of  the  two 
meanings  is  intended  in  particular  cases. 

Now  it  is  a  familiar  truth  that  things  which  are 
not  seen  are  continually  putting  forth  visible  signs. 
The  idea  is  ever  seeking  to  become  a  fact.  The 
soul  has  its  body.  It  speaks  languages,  erects 
houses,  creates  homes,  builds  up  civilizations. 
Otherwise  it  could  neither  develop  its  own  powers 
nor  come  into  effective  contact  with  its  fellows. 
If  therefore  the  kingdom  of  God  be  in  the  world, 
it  will  make  itself  known  outwardly.    If  men  have 

or  state  of  being,  kingdom  is  the  quality  or  state  of  a 
king — tliat  is  to  say,  his  jurisdiction,  dominion,  power. 
See  Webster's  International  Dictionary,  s.  v. 

^"Matt.  xvi.  28.    Cf.  Lulte  1.  33;  xix.  11;  xxiii.  42. 

"Matt.  xix.  14.  Cf.  Matt.  xvi.  19;  Luke  vii.  28; 
John  iii.  5.  Thayer,  "Greek-English  Lexicon  of  New 
Testament,"  s.  v.;  Vos,  "The  Kingdom  of  God  and  the 
Church,"  pp.  27-31. 

^=Matt.  iv.  17.    Cf.  Matt.  vi.  10;  Luke  ix.  27;  xix.  11. 


8  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

the  knowledge  of  God  and  acknowledge  his  will 
as  their  one  law,  this  life  of  the  spirit  must  find 
some  appropriate  embodiment.  It  will  take  shape 
in  personal  conduct,  in  rites  of  worship,  in  litera- 
ture, in  art,  in  organized  societies.  Otherwise  it 
could  neitlier  develop  itself  nor  serve  and  save  the 
world. 

The  spiritual  realm  must  appear.  In  the  life  of 
Jesus  the  Son  of  God  ?  Yes ;  there  it  is  perfect!)' 
bodied  forth,  but  measurably  also  in  the  lives  of 
all  God's  children.  Like  any  natural  life-germ, 
though  hidden  it  is  not  secretive.  In  both  per- 
sonal and  social  relations  it  will  show  the  proper 
signs  of  its  presence  in  all  acts  and  habits  of 
holy  love. 

Here  arises  the  Church.  It  is  distinctively  the 
outward  and  institutional  form  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Hence,  in  Paganism,  where  this  kingdom 
is  so  rarely  and  vaguely  known  in  men's  hearts, 
there  is  no  Church ;  in  Israel,  where  the  true  and 
living  God  was  made  known  in  righteousness,  the 
Church  appeared,  but  in  rudimentary  form,  not 
as  yet  dissevered  from  the  State;  in  Christianity, 
where  the  fullest  knowledge  of  God  and  his  re- 
deeming grace  is  given,  the  Church  appears,  griev- 
ously imperfect  indeed,  yet,  as  compared  with  Is- 
rael, rejoicing  in  fullness  of  power,  a  missionary 
organization  proclaiming  the  word  of  the  Cross 
to  every  people.  The  Church  of  Christ  is  the  sov- 
ereignty of  Christ  in  the  soul,  Christ's  kingdom. 


As  the  K'tngdom  Represented  9 

God's  kingdom,  the  "kingdom  of  the  Son  of  his 
love/'  in  its  institutional  earthly  expression. 

We  can  understand,  then,  why  it  is  that  in  the 
Gospels  so  much  is  said  of  the  Kingdom,  while  in 
the  Acts  and  Epistles  so  much  is  said  of  the 
Church.  Jesus  taught  the  things  of  the  spirit, 
the  innermost  life,  communion  with  the  Most 
High.  He  brought  the  sense  of  eternity  into 
time,  and  made  the  spiritual  world  a  reality  to 
men's  consciousness.  Was  there  a  Church  at  the 
time?  There  was  the  Church  of  Israel;  Jesus 
himself  was  numbered  among  its  members  and 
gave  his  sanction  to  its  rites.^^  But  concerning 
this  or  any  other  institution  there  is  very  little  to 
be  found  in  the  Master's  teaching.  Not  an  insti- 
tution, not  anything  that  is  about  men,  but  that 
which  is  and  that  which  ought  to  be  in  them — 
that  which  they  may  and  must  become — was  the 
burden  of  his  message  concerning  humankind. 

Besides,  through  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus 
the  Church  of  Israel  was  waxing  old  and  passing 
away.  Eather  it  was  passing  into  the  Christian 
institute  and  thus  reaching  its  predestined  aim. 
Soon  there  would  be  gathered  about  the  Christ 
the  new  Israel,  the  Christian  Ecclesia.  But  even 
while  Jesus  was  preparing  for  this  Church — train- 
ing the  Twelve  and  instituting  the  rites  of  initia- 

"Cf.  Luke  ii.  21,  41,  42;  Matt.  iii.  13-15;  iv.  23;  v. 
23,  24;  xxiii.  23. 


10  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

tion  and  fellowship,  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per— that  of  which  he  spoke  habitually  was  some- 
thing greater.  It  was  that  eternal  Kingdom  which 
the  Church,  as  it  arose,  must  represent,  and  whose 
universal  coming  must  be  the  end  of  all  ecclesias- 
tical forms  and  activities.  So  we  are  not  sur- 
prised to  find  that  in  Jesus'  recorded  sayings  the 
Kingdom  is  mentioned  continually — more  than  a 
hundred  times — and  the  Church  but  twice.^'* 

Is  the  case,  then,  utterly  different  in  the  Acts 
and  Epistles?  Not  utterly  different.  The  King- 
dom is  still  conspicuous;"  but  the  Church  also 
becomes  conspicuous.  The  gospel  of  Jesus  is 
falling  upon  men's  hearts  from  tongues  of  fire, 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  coming  with  power;  men 
of  every  nation  are  becoming  disciples  of  Jesus, 

'*Once  (Matt.  xvi.  18)  in  the  universal  and  once 
{,xbid.  xviil.  17)  in  the  local  sense. 

It  may  also  be  noted  that  both  these  passages  favor 
the  idea  of  the  Church  as  representing  the  kingdom 
of  God  rather  than  as  identical  with  it.  For  if  the 
Church  be  the  institutional  form,  or  representative, 
of  the  Kingdom,  we  might  well  suppose  that  the  keys 
of  the  Kingdom,  the  authority  to  declare  the  Divine 
acceptance  or  condemnation,  would  be  intrusted  to  its 
keeping.  And  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  Church  and 
the  Kingdom  are  to  be  regarded  as  one  and  the  same, 
why  should  both  terms  be  used — "I  will  build  my 
Church,"  "I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven"? 

"Cf.  Acts  viii.  12;  xix.  8;  xxviii.  23;  Rom.  xiv.  17; 
1  Cor.  iv.  20;  and  other  passages. 


As  the  Iu7\gdom  Represented  11 

and  as  such  are  uniting  into  societies  in  his  name. 
The  Kingdom  is  projecting  itself  upon  the  world 
in  visible  embodiment  as  the  Church.  Therefore 
the  Church  will  have  prominence  in  the  apostles' 
thought,  and  to  the  care  of  its  steadily  increasing 
congregations  a  large  share  of  their  ministry  must 
be  given.  But  observe,  not  for  the  Church's  own 
sake.  As  we  shall  see  later,  it  has  no  reason  to  ex- 
ist, save  as  the  outward  representative  and  servant 
of  God's  reign  within.  Accordingly  we  find  that 
the  gospel  which  had  been  delivered  unto  the  apos- 
tles, their  word  of  preaching,  like  that  of  Jesus 
himself,  was  not  the  Church  but  the  kingdom  of 
God.  "Among  whom,"  says  Paul,  "I  went  about 
preaching  the  kingdom."^^ 

II 

But  this  view  of  the  relation  of  the  Church  to 
the  Kingdom  has  not  been  universally  held.  It 
has  been  widely  taught  that  the  two  names  may 
be  used  interchangeably.  The  Church,  which  is 
defined  as  Christ's  followers  organized  for  wor- 
ship and  service,  does  not  represent  but  actually  is 
the  kingdom  of  God.^^ 

I'Acts  XX.  25;  xxviii.  23.     Cf.  Luke  xvi.  16. 

"Augustine,  "The  City  of  God,"  xx.  9;  "Westmin- 
ster Confession,"  xxv.;  Trench,  "Notes  on  the  Para- 
bles," p.  77;  Gore,  "Church  and  Ministry,"  p.  204;  and 
Anglican  writers  generally.  For  the  view  presented 
in  the  text,  see  Hort,  "The  Christian  Eclcesia,"  p.  19. 

In  Matt.  xiii.  41,  47-50,  and  xxi.  43,  "kingdom  of 


12  Tke  Idea  of  the  Church 

Again,  it  has  been  taught  by  a  few  that  there 
is  indeed  no  distinction  between  the  Church  and 
the  Kingdom,  the  two  names  denoting  the  same 
institution  and  body  of  people;  but  this  body  of 
people  is  the  whole  community,  or  the  "social  state 
in  which  the  Spirit  of  Christ  reigns,"  whether  all 
its  members  are  personal  disciples  of  Christ  or 
not;  that  what  is  ordinarily  called  "the  Church" 
is  properly  but  a  single  branch  of  the  Church,  the 
other  branches  being  all  those  human  associations 
that  exist  for  good  and  worthy  ends,  such  as  the 
famih%  the  society  for  the  promotion  of  art  or 
knowledge  or  industry  or  social  intercourse,  and 
the  nation ;  that  tlie  completest  form  in  which  the 
Kingdom,  or  Church,  is  found  at  present  is  the 
Christian  nation — that  this,  in  fact,  of  present  or- 
ganizations alone  can  claim  the  name  of  "Church" ; 
and  that  all  nations  will  eventually  unite  in  ac- 
knowledging the  lordship  of  Christ,  and  thus  con- 
stitute the  universal  Church,  or  the  universal  king- 
dom of  God  on  earth. ^^ 

Still  again,  it  has  been  said  that  while  such  a 
description  as  the  foregoing  is  true  of  the  king- 
heaven"  seems  to  be  used  in  the  sense  of  "Church." 
But  if  one  should  say  that  that  which  represents  the 
Church  is  here  spoken  of  as  the  Church  itself,  it 
would  not  be  an  unreasonable  exegesis. 

'^This  is  the  view  which  Canon  Freemantle  so  ably 
presents  in  his  Bampton  Lectures,  "The  World  as  the 
Subject  of  Redemption." 


As  ihe  Kingdoni  Represented  18 

doni  of  God,  it  is  not  true  of  the  Church ;  that  the 
two  terms  are  not  convertible ;  that  the  old  famil- 
iar view  of  the  Church  as  Christ's  people  organ- 
ized for  worship  and  service,  is  the  true  view;  but 
that  as  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  it  indeed  may  be 
regarded  as  the  whole  Christian  commimity  in  all 
its  various  functions  and  associations,  with  the 
Church  as  the  chief  organ  in  the  accomplisliment 
of  its  work.^^ 

^t^Tow  there  is  much  truth  made  prominent  in 
these  latter  two  conceptions.  The  family  and  the 
nation  are  Divine  institutions ;  knowledge,  art,  in- 
dustry, social  intercourse,  are  in  their  essential 
idea  religious,  and  whatever  societies  are  formed 
for  their  furtherance  ought  to  be  in  spirit,  if  not 
in  form.  Christian  societies.  So  far  as  Christian 
men  take  part  in  them,  they  will  be  such,  and  will 
help  to  establish  the  kingdom  of  God.  Let  them 
all  be  claimed  for  Christ;  because  in  proportion 
as  they  are  truly  understood  and  perfected,  it  is 
his  Spirit  that  will  rule  in  them  all.  But  it  also 
seems  clear  that  if  we  keep  to  the  New  Testament 
meaning  and  use  of  terms,  we  must  think  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  as  that  citizenship  of  souls  which 
exists  only  where  there  is  in  some  true  sense  con- 
scious loyalty  to  him ;  whereas  societies  for  the 

"Washington  Gladden,  "The  Church  and  the  King- 
dom," pp.  5,  6,  11,  12.  Cf.  Weiss,  "Religion  of  the 
New  Testament"  (English  translation),  p.  410. 


V 


14  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

promotion  of  knowledge,  art,  industry,  and  social 
intercourse,  or  even  such  societies  as  the  family 
and  the  nation,  may  exist  where  God's  will  is  not 
acknowledged  at  all. 

It  is  true  that  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth 
are  included  under  the  Divine  government.-"  The 
whole  natural  creation  is  a  realm  of  laws  that  ex- 
press the  Creator's  will. 

Who  maketh  the  winds  His  messengers, 
Flames  of  fire  His  ministers. 

So  with  men.^^  Their  life,  physical  and  men- 
tal, is  lived,  every  moment  of  it,  in  the  presence 
of  the  one  Lawgiver,  "even  Him  who  is  able  to 
save  and  to  destroy."  Over  all  their  interests  and 
activities,  their  societies,  their  civilizations,  God 
reigns.  What  were  human  history  without  his 
almighty  hand,  guiding,  punishing,  governing? 

There  was  also  a  revelation  of  God  as  in  a  very 
special  sense  king  of  tlie  cliosen  nation.  "Blessed 
be  Egypt  my  people,  and  Assyria  the  work  of  ray 
hands,  and  Israel  m\)xe  inheritance/'"  But  when 
we  reach  this  human  sphere,  the  new  fact  of  per- 
sonality emerges ;  and  that  makes  an  absolute  dif- 
ference. Man's  nature  is  morally  constituted.  He 
may  either  do  or  refuse  to  do  the  will  of  God  as 
the  law  of  his  life.  Thus  it  is  possible  for  him 
either  to  enter  or  refuse  to  enter  a  kingdom  of 
righteousness;  and  this  is  "the  kingdom  of  God 

-"1  Chron.  xxix.  11.      ='Ps.  xxiv.  1.      "Isa.  xix.  2.5. 


As  the  Kingdom  Represented  15 

and  his  righteousness''  that  Jesus  has  bidden  us 
seek.  All  that  goes  before  it,  both  in  nature  and 
in  humanity,  prepares  the  way  for  it  and  cooper- 
ates with  it  in  the  fulfillment  of  God's  all-compre- 
hending plan.  Nothing  is  merely  "secular" ;  noth- 
ing is  profane  except  sin. 

The  wayside  weed  is  sacred  unto  Him. 

But  it  does  not  follow  that  all  things,  either 
material  or  human,  are  included  in  the  Christian 
idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Those  only  are  in- 
cluded in  it  that  demand  the  reign  of  God  in  the 
heart. 

Ill 

In  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  the  word  is  uniform- 
ly the  "kingdom  of  heaven."  It  is  a  name  suggest- 
ive of — what  large  and  lofty  spiritual  relationships ! 
One  mark  of  men's  littleness  of  faith  is  that  they 
imagine  the  heavenly  world  a  very  distant  sphere 
or  a  very  strange  state  of  existence — as,  for  exam- 
ple, in  the  common  misapplication  of  the  proph- 
et's words,  "Thine  eyes  shall  see  the  king  in  his 
beauty ;  they  shall  behold  the  land  that  is  very  far 
ojf."~^  Such  is  not  the  spirit  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. It  will  not  be  any  one's  spirit,  so  far  as 
he  appropriates  the  truth  of  Jesus'  word,  "the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  and  prays  with  heart  and  life 
the  prayer,  "Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done 

"■'Isa.  xxxiii.  17,  A.  V. 


16  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  The  difference  be- 
tween the  life  of  holy  and  loving  obedience  as  it  is 
lived  here  and  now  and  as  it  is  lived  by  the  sons 
of  God  on  high. 

The  great  intelligences  fair 
That  range  above  our  mortal  state, 

is  a  difference  not  of  kind  but  of  degree.  Their 
citizenship,  their  mind,  may  also  be  ours.  In 
churches  and  homes  and  market  places,  on  the 
street,  in  the  kitchen,  beneath  the  stars,  "he  that 
believeth  hath  eternal  life."'  Yes;  not  only  above 
but  also  beneath  the  stars  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

In  a  similar  manner,  the  close  kinship  between 
the  Christian  life  in  this  world  and  that  life  which 
awaits  realization  Avhen  "there  shall  be  time  no 
longer,"  is  indicated  by  the  use,  especially  in  the 
Pauline  epistles,  of  the  word  "kingdom  of  God" 
for  the  latter  as  well  as  the  former.  The  apostle 
who  describes  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  present 
possession  of  "righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in 
the  Holy  Spirit,"  also  declares,  speaking  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  resurrection,  that  "flesh  and  blood  can- 
not inherit  the  kingdom  of  God."-*  The  same  de- 
scriptive name  is  given  to  that  which  shall  appear 
in  glory  and  that  which  already  exists  on  earth. 

■*  1  Cor.  XV.  50.  Cf.  2  Thess.  i.  5;  1  Cor.  vi.  9;  Gal. 
V.  21;  2  Tim.  iv.  1. 


As  the  Klngdomi  Represented  17 

IV 

And  now  if  the  Church  be  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  institutional  expression,  the  outward  repre- 
sentative of  God's  reign  within,  an  answer  is  sug- 
gested to  the  question,  What  is  the  Church  for? 
Its  one  business  is  to  realize  the  coming  of  this 
heavenly  kingdom  upon  earth.  It  is  simply  a 
means  to  this  sublime  end. 

Hence  it  is  first  of  all  a  missionary  force.  It 
has  been  sent  forth  in  all  the  world  to  gain  men 
for  obedience  to  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  "God  hath 
set  some  in  the  Church,  -first  apostles."  Then,  too, 
the  Church,  in  order  to  the  accomplishment  of  its 
end,  must  be  all  the  while  nurturing,  governing, 
edifying  its  children,  that  it  may  "present  every 
man  perfect  in  Christ."  ISTor  is  there  any  con- 
flict between  these  two  functions,  the  evangelistic 
and  the  pastoral.  On  the  contrary,  each  sustains 
the  other,  and  both  together  promote  the  triumph 
of  the  Kingdom. 

It  should  attend  us  through  all  our  studies,  this 
idea  of  the  Church's  "final  cause." 

Two  misconceptions  of  its  practical  workings  are 
specially  to  be  avoided.  The  first  is  a  false  ather- 
worldliness.  The  Christian  may  cease  to  feel  in- 
terested in  the  common  relations  of  life.  Practi- 
cally he  may  interpret  the  precept,  "Love  not  the 
world,  neither  the  things  that  are  in  the  world," 
as  prohibiting  much  more  than  "the  lust  of  the 
flesh  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes  and  the  vainglory  of 
2 


18  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

life."^^  Withdrawing  himself  in  spirit  from  both 
the  natural  and  the  human  world,  neither  nature 
nor  man  pleases  him;  nor  would  he  be  pleased  by 
them.  All  is  transitory  and  vain ;  every  beautiful 
thing  hides  a  snare.  His  ever-present  object  is  to 
make  a  way  safel}^  out  of  this  world  to  a  home  on 
high.  The  ascetic  ideal  is  revered  as  the  most 
truly  Christian. 

Now  so  far  as  this  spirit  prevails  among  Church 
members,  the  Church  is  alien  to  the  life  of  the 
community  in  which  it  is  located.  The  physical 
well-being  of  the  people,  education,  the  press,  mor- 
al reforms,  municipal  government,  are  matters  of 
indifference.  The  one  plan  and  purpose  of  organ- 
ized Christianity  is  supposed  to  be  the  direct  lead- 
ing of  individual  souls  to  Christ,  and  the  culture 
of  devout  character. 

The  other  misconception  is  secularism.  Chris- 
tianity is  approved  as  chiefly  useful  in  the  regula- 
tion of  the  life  that  now  is ;  it  makes  for  decent 
and  respectable  conduct;  it  is  an  eifective  civilizer. 
We  are  not  to  think  much  about  the  future  or  the 
supersensible  sphere:  such  matters  are  too  high 
for  us,  we  know  and  can  know  little  or  nothing 
of  them.  Let  us  therefore  be  content  with  getting 
all  possible  natural  good  out  of  the  world,  and 
trying  to  make  things  somewhat  better  for  those 
about  us.     Such  is  the  secular  spirit.     It  supposes 

-n  John  ii.  15,  16. 


As  the  Kingdom  Represented  19 

godliness  to  be  "a  way  of  gain."^®  In  its  presence 
eternity  becomes  an  unknown  and  practically  un- 
considered quantity.     Earth  and  time  are  all. 

So  far  as  this  spirit  prevails,  the  Church  will 
lose  its  distinctive  character  as  a  witness  to  the 
salvation  that  is  in  Christ,  and  will  make  his  king- 
dom consist  in  some  form  of  outward  and  tem- 
poral affairs,  not  in  "righteousness  and  peace  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit." 

But  there  is  a  true  other-worldliness.  It  was  ex- 
emplified in  Jesus  our  Lord.  He  lived  the  heavenly 
life  here  in  the  flesh,  and  would  have  his  people  do 
the  same.  And  compared  with  this  life  of  the 
spirit,  all  earthly  interests  are  verily  without 
worth.  ISTevertheless  they  do  have  a  value  in  them- 
selves, and  moreover  are  inseparably  connected 
with  the  higher  life.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  in 
the  hearts  of  men  may  help  and  be  helped  by 
sanitation,  schools,  science,  home  life,  civil  govern- 
ment. Here  is  not  a  matter  of  antagonism,  but 
of  cooperation.  Christianity  is  neither  monkhood 
nor  clericalism.  A  true-minded  Christian  congre- 
gation will  be  a  congregation  of  benefactors,  of 
reformers,  of  students,  of  good  neighbors,  of  con- 
scientious voters,  of  alert  citizens.  The  Pharisees 
were  separatists,  but  "the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  unto  leaven  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in 
three  measures  of  meal  till  it  was  all  leavened." 

-n  Tim.  vi.  5. 


20  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

To  make  any  institution  or  pursuit  Christian  is 
not  to  denaturalize,  but  to  perfect  it.  Christianiz- 
ing is  humanizing.  That  half-conscious  striving 
upward  that  has  always  marked  the  struggles  and 
longings  of  the  race  finds  its  answering  voice  in 
nothing  less  and  in  nothing  other  than  the  hu- 
manity of  Jesus.  In  him  is  unveiled  to  whoever 
has  eyes  to  see  the  mystery  of  the  universe,  which 
is  the  law  of  love.  Very  wide  is  the  application 
of  his  own  great  announcement,  "I  came  not  to 
destroy,  but  to  fulfill." 

But  equally  unmistakable  is  the  militant  aspect 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  come  to  destroy. 
The  Fulfiller  of  law  and  prophecy,  whether  written 
in  the  TTebrew  Scriptures  or  on  the  living  tablets 
of  the  heart,  came  to  "cast  fire  upon  the  earth."-^ 
To  give  peace  ?  "Xay ;  but  rather  division."-^  He 
sent  the  sword.-^  The  antagonistic  kingdom  is 
"the  world."  Not  the  natural  world,  for  that  is  a 
temple  for  the  glory  and  praise  of  the  Creator: 
said  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  unworldliest  of  men, 
"Looking  upon  the  sky  and  clouds,  there  came  into 
my  mind  so  sweet  a  sense  of  the  glorious  majesty 
and  grace  of  God  that  I  know  not  how  to  express." 
Not  the  human  world,  for  that  has  been  so  loved 
of  God  that  he  gave  his  own  Son  for  its  salvation. 
But  the  human  world  as  represented  by  that  sin- 
ful  spirit   that   dominates  the  imrenewed   heart. 

"Luke  xii.  49.      -'Luke  xii.  51.      ='Matt.  x.  34. 


As  the  Kingdom  JRejpresented  21 

This  is  the  meaning  when  the  New  Testament  de- 
clares the  world  to  be  in  antagonism  with  the  life 
of  God  in  the  soul. 

Here,  then,  is  the  age-long  conflict  of  light  and 
darkness  that  may  not  suffer  a  moment's  truce  or 
compromise :  not  between  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
men's  institutions,  pursuits,  and  interests,  but  be- 
tween moral  truth  and  error,  between  holiness  and 
sin,  between  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the  world- 
spirit. 

What  shall  be  said  of  the  Church  as  an  actually 
existing  institution  in  this  conflict?  It  is  never 
wholly  on  one  side  or  the  other.  There  is  in  it 
much  of  the  world-spirit.  In  his  first  letter  to  the 
Corinthians,  Paul  describes  "the  Church  of  God 
which  is  at  Corinth"  as  those  that  are  "sanctified 
in  Christ  Jesus,  called  to  be  saints,"  "enriched  in 
him  in  all  utterance  and  in  all  knowledge,"  called 
of  God  "into  fellowship  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  Here  is  a  description  not  so  much  of 
what  that  Church  was  as  of  what  it  had  been  di- 
vinely intended  to  become — "called  to  be  saints" — 
and  had  only  begun  to  be.  For  the  Apostle  im- 
mediately adds  that  he  hears  of  "contentions" 
among  them :  "For  ye  are  yet  carnal ;  for  whereas 
there  is  among  you  jealousy  and  strife  are  ye  not 
carnal,  and  walk  after  the  manner  of  men?"^° 

A  Church  of  God  as  it  is  in  the  divine  idea  is 

*>!  Cor.,  passim. 


22  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

only  in  part  the  actual  Church  of  God  as  it  was 
in  Corinth :  and  so  the  case  has  been  in  every  age 
and  in  every  place  even  till  now.  The  Church  does 
not  represent  the  kingdom  of  God  fairly  and  fully 
in  any  community.  Everywhere  it  is  invaded  and 
in  some  measure  won  over  by  the  world.  In  its 
worship,  in  its  preaching,  in  its  social  life,  in  the 
setting  up  and  administration  of  its  government, 
has  this  false  spirit  been  manifest.^^ 

But  so  far  as  it  shall  keep  true  to  its  ideal  as  an 
embodiment  of  God's  kingdom  for  the  making  of 
his  will  the  universally  accepted  law  of  life,  the 
Church,  through  its  very  sympathy  with  all  that 
makes  for  the  welfare  of  men,  will  stand  in  steady 
and  unfaltering  antagonism  with  the  moral  evil 
that  is  destroying  them. 

"Cf.  Matt.  XX.  20-28;  xxiii.  8-12;  3  John  9,  10. 


II 

AS  THE  NEW  ISRAEL 

In  the  message  that  first  fell  from  the  lips  of 
Jesus,  the  old  and  the  new  were  equally  note- 
worthy— "The  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand."  And 
the  whole  life  of  the  One  who  came  proclaiming 
it  was  to  unfold  the  contents  of  this  initial  word. 
What,  then,  were  its  contents  ?  The  King,  who  had 
heretofore  made  himself  known  by  the  name  of 
Jehovah,  the  Eternal,  the  Holy  and  Merciful, 
keeping  covenant  with  his  elect,  was  now  to  be 
made  known  as  the  heavenly  Father,  speaking, 
ministering,  judging,  reigning,  in  his  Son  Jesus 
the  Lord;  the  Law,  which  had  been  interpreted 
from  time  to  time  by  prophetic  teachers,  was  now 
to  be  interpreted  by  the  Prophet  whose  coming 
they  had  foretold;  the  citizens  of  the  Kingdom, 
who  had  been  taught  to  live  together  in  the  spirit 
of  righteous  brotherhood,  were  now  to  learn  the 
depth  and  breadth  of  brotherly  love  in  the  Son  of 
Man;  the  center-truth  of  the  Kingdom,  the  aton- 
ing love  of  God,  which  had  been  both  hidden  and 
revealed  in  the  sacrifices  of  the  altar  and  the  cryp- 
tic utterances  of  prophecy,  was  now  to  be  unveiled 
in  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Cross;  the  Christ,  upon 
whom  all  hopes  of  the  future  manifestation  of  the 

(23) 


^24:  Tlie  Idea  of  the  CJiurch 

Kingdom  had  ever  been  fixed,  was  already  present 
in  person  and  claiming  allegiance.  All  this  was  at 
hand. 

Jesus  said,  "The  time  is  fulfilled."^  That  which 
had  been  from  time  far-past,  not  only  in  the 
thought  and  purpose  of  the  Eternal  but  also  in 
the  unconquerable  hope  of  faithful  souls,  was 
about  to  be  realized.  The  confession  of  faith  had 
always  been,  "The  Lord  reigneth";  it  was  now, 
"Behold,  he  cometh." 

I 

Is  the  same  thing  true  of  the  Church  as  of  the 
Kingdom  itself?  Is  it  also  continuous  through 
the  ages,  essentially  the  same  since  Christ's  com- 
ing as  before?  Judaism  and  Christianity  are 
sometimes  vaguely  spoken  of  as  if  one  were  false 
and  the  other  true,  or  at  least  as  if  in  every  respect 
they  must  be  contrasted  with  each  other.  But 
Judaism,  the  religion  of  Israel,  was  the  earlier 
form  of  Christianity,  and  the  Church  of  Israel 
the  earlier  form  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Our  Lord  himself  during  all  his  earthly  days 
lived  in  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Israel. 
He  received  in  infancy  the  sign  of  the  Abrahamic 
covenant ;  he  went  up  to  the  Holy  City  at  the  an- 
nual religious  feasts;  he  attended  the  services  of 
the  synagogue ;  he  ate  the  Passover  with  his  disci- 
ples on  the  very  evening  of  his  Passion,  and  with 

^Mark  i.  15. 


As  the  New  Israel  25 

great  desire  had  he  desired  it.  Nor  did  Jesus  ever 
say  to  any  of  the  Jews  who  believed  on  him  that 
they  must  quit  the  Church  of  their  fathers.  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  in  accordance  with  his  instruc- 
tions that  they  should  observe  its  ordinances  and 
obey  its  teachings.^  His  disciples  would  be  ex- 
communicated from  the  local  congregations  of 
the  Church,  but  they  were  not  bidden  to  with- 
draw: "They  shall  fut  y.ou  out  of  the  syna- 
gogue."^ 

If,  amid  the  multitude  that  heard  Jesus'  words, 
there  were  restless  and  revolutionary  spirits  ready 
to  applaud  the  snapping  asunder  of  whatever  ties 
were  binding  them  to  the  sacred  past,  their  ex- 
pectations were  doomed  by  his  own  explicit  an- 
nouncement :  "Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  de- 
stroy the  law  or  the  prophets ;  I  came  not  to  de- 
stroy, but  to  fulfill."*  It  was  the  old  principle  of 
brotherhood  that  Jesus  enunciated,  but  side  by 
side  with  it  the  new  commandment,  "Even  as  I 
have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one  another,'"^  in 
which  that  which  had  been  from  the  beginning 
found  fulfillment;  it  was  the  old  prophetic  truth 
that  he  delivered,  as  fulfilled  in  his  evangel;  it 
was  the  old  way  of  salvation  that  he  pointed  out 
(there  can  be  no  other),  as  fulfilled  in  his  atoning 
sacrifice ;  it  was  the  old  Church  in  which  he  would 

''Matt.  v.  23,  24;  viii.  4;  xxiii.  2,  3. 

'John  xvi.  2.      "Matt.  v.  17.      ''John  xiii.  34. 


26  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

have  all  men  claim  membership,  as  fulfilled  in  the 
fellowship  and  congregation  of  those  who  should 
believe  on  his  name. 

Between  a  man  of  thirty  and  a  child  of  three, 
the  difference  is  great  indeed.  The  man  looks 
back  to  the  time 

When  the  breeze  of  a  joyful  dawn  blew  free 
In  the  silken  sail  of  infancy, 

as  a  far-off  dream.  For  has  he  not  died  every  dav 
to  his  former  self?  Childhood  and  youth  have 
yielded  hopelessly  before  advancing  age.  Nor  has 
the  attainment  of  manhood,  physical  and  mental, 
been  altogether  in  the  way  of  slow  and  gradual 
growth.  There  may  have  been  sharp  transitions. 
Perhaps  the  man  can  tell  of  a  time  when  the  hori- 
zon of  the  mind  seemed  suddenly  lifted,  and  he 
began  to  live  and  move  in  a  distinctly  wider  realm 
of  thought — like  Adam  Clarke,  who  could  recall 
the  very  day,  in  early  youth,  when  his  intellectual 
darkness  was  turned  into  the  light  in  which  his 
whole  after  life  was  lived.  The  moral  character 
may  have  radically  changed :  there  may  have  been 
the  birth  from  above,  giving  personal  knowledge 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Nevertheless  it  is  his  own 
childhood  upon  which  the  man  looks  back;  the 
sense  of  personal  identity  remains ;  he  is  the  same 
being  as  ever  before.  Similarly  the  Church  of 
God  has  had  its  childhood.  It  was  then  "under 
guardians  and  stewards."    The  altars  of  sacrifice, 


As  the  JVeto  Israel  27 

the  priestly  vestments,  the  clivers  washings  and 
purifications,  were  the  primers  and  picture  cards 
with  which  God  instructed  his  Church  in  its  in- 
fantile years.  "When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I 
loved  him  and  called  my  son  out  of  Egypt.  .  .  . 
Yet  I  taught  Ephraim  to  go ;  I  took  them  on  my 
arms ;  but  they  knew  not  that  I  healed  them.'"'  In 
Christianity,  under  the  larger  ministrations  of  the 
Spirit,  the  Church  attains  unto  an  imperfect  yet 
real  manhood;  and  the  picture  cards  are  replaced 
by  the  ampler  word  of  truth  for  which  they  have 
prepared  the  way.  But  whether  earlier  or  later, 
it  is  one  and  the  same  Church  of  the  ever-living 
God.  No  change,  however  significant,  has  broken 
its  continuity. 

II 

It  may  be  advisable  to  speak  less  figuratively. 
Let  us,  then,  keep  close  to  the  facts  as  they  have 
been  delivered  to  us  by  those  who  "from  the  be- 
ginning were  eyewitnesses  and  ministers  of  the 
word."  We  look  upon  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
rightly,  as  the  Founder  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Did  he  not  solemnly  declare  on  the  only  occasion 
when  he  spoke  of  the  Church  as  a  future  and  uni- 
versal institution,  "Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my 
Church  ?"''  But  the  word  which  Jesus  here  uses 
(cKKXr^crta,  congregation,  assembly)  was  the  Greek 
word  not  only  for  the  citizens  of  a  Greek  city- 

'Hosea  xi.  1-3.     "Matt.  xvi.  18. 


28  Tlie  Idea  of  the  ChurcK 

state  called  together  by  a  herald  for  the  considera- 
tion of  matters  of  public  interest/  but  also  for  the 
congregation  of  Israel,  whether  regarded  as  ac- 
tually called  together  or  not.  In  his  defense  before 
the  Sanhedrin,  Stephen  said :  "This  is  the  Moses 
that  was  in  the  church  [iKKXrja-La)  in  the  wilder- 
ness."^ In  the  Septuagint,  which  was  extensively 
read  even  in  Palestine  in  our  Lord's  time,  the 
word  is  most  frequently  employed  in  this  sense — 
that  is  to  say,  to  represent  the  people  of  Israel  as 
a  community  without  reference  to  their  being 
called  together  in  a  public  assembly.^"  It  was  the 
old  church  name.  The  word  itself,  therefore,  sug- 
gests a  close  connection  between  the  religious  so- 
ciety which  Jesus  would  found  and  that  which  was 
from  the  beginning.^^ 

*This  was  the  classic  use  of  the  word.  In  later 
Greek  it  was  applied  to  any  assemblage,  however  ir- 
regular and  disorderly — even  to  an  assembled  mob, 
as  in  Acts  xix.  32,  41. 

"Acts  vii.  38. 

'"Hastings,  "Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  Art.  Congre- 
gation. 

"The  principal  senses  in  which  the  word  is  used  in 
the  New  Testament  are  the  following:  1.  That  of  a 
local  body  of  Christian  people  assembled  (Acts  xviii. 
22;  1  Cor.  xiv.  4).  2.  That  of  a  local  body  of  Chris- 
tian people  not  assembled  (Acts  viii.  1,  3;  xii.  1). 
3.  That  of  the  whole  body  of  Christian  people  as 
represented  in  some  particular  place  (Acts  xx.  28; 
1  Cor.  i.  2).  4.  That  of  the  whole  body  of  Christian 
people — the  universal  sense,  as  shown  in  our  Lord's 


As  the  New  Israel  29 

But  does  not  Jesus  say  "M?/  Eeelesia,"  making 
a  distinction  between  those  who  should  be  gath- 
ered into  brotherhood  as  believers  in  him,  and  the 
preceding  ecclesia  of  Israel?  Undoubtedly;  but 
in  order  to  see  what  the  exact  distinction  is,  let  us 
remember  by  whom  and  in  what  circumstances  it 
was  made.  Jesus  had  Just  been  confessed  by  Si- 
mon Peter  as  Messiah.  "Who  say  ye  that  I  am?" 
"Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God." 
"Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona;  for  flesh  and 
blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my 
Father  who  is  in  heaven."  Then  follows  the  mo- 
mentous assertion :  "And  I  also  say  unto  thee, 
that  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock" — upon 
this  prophet-apostle,  making  the  first  confession 
of  Messiahship,  which  it  had  been  given  him  to 
see  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  upon  him  as  a  first  foun- 
dation stone — "I  will  build  my  Church;  and  the 
gates  of  Hades  shall  not  prevail  against  it."^^  It 
was  the  congregation  of  the  Christ.  But  the 
Christ  was  the  predestined  Lord  of  the  congrega- 
tion of  Israel,  in  whom  the  fathers  throughout 
their  generations  had  been  taught  to  hope,  as  him 
in  whom  Jehovah's  people  were  to  find  their  re- 
demption and  their  glory.  Thus  was  the  ecclesia 
of  Jesus  Christ  organically  connected  with  the  ec- 

declaration  quoted  in  the  text,  and  in  two  of  the  Pau- 
line epistles  (Eph.  i.  22;  v.  25;  Col.  i.  18).     See  Hort, 
"The  Christian  Ecclesia,"  Lect.  I. 
^=Matt.  xvi.  13-20. 


30  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

clesia  of  Israel — not  its  antagonist  nor  yet  its 
mere  successor,  but  its  fulfillment.  It  was  the  new 
Israel. 

Accordingly  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  even  after 
the  groat  illumination  of  Pentecost,  showed  no 
consciousness  of  being  outside  the  Church  of  their 
fathers.  Their  Master  had  not  bidden  them  for- 
sake the  temple  and  its  services;  therefore  "day 
by  day  continuing  steadfastly  with  one  accord  in 
the  temple,  and  breaking  bread  at  home,  they  did 
take  their  food  with  gladness  and  singleness  of 
heart,"  Peter  and  John  went  "up  into  the  temple 
at  the  hour  of  prayer."^^  Peter,  like  any  other  Is- 
raelite, addressed  the  people  as  brethren  (avSpes 
dSeX^ot)  ;  and  it  was  his  exhortation,  "Save  your- 
selves"— not  from  the  congregation  or  institutions 
of  Israel — "from  this  crooked  generation,"^*  these 
misbelievers  in  the  faith  of  the  fathers.  James,  in 
his  speech  at  the  council  in  Jervisalem,  refers  in 
the  language  of  an  ancient  prophet^"  to  the  Chris- 
tian Church  as  the  "tabernacle  of  David"  rebuilt 
out  of  its  ruins,  "that  the  residue  of  men  may  seek 
after  the  Lord,  and  all  the  Gentiles,  upon  whom 
my  name  is  called,  saith  the  Lord  that  maketh 
these  things  known  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world."^^ 

The  fact  that  a  man  had  been  baptized  in  the 

"Acts  iii.  1.      ''Acts  ii.  40.      "Amos  ix.  11. 
"Acts  XV.  16-18. 


As  the  New  hrael  31 

name  of  Jesus  did  not  separate  him  from  the  con- 
gregation of  Israel  any  more  than  did  the  fact 
that  he  had  been  baptized  in  the  river  Jordan  at 
the  hands  of  John ;  because  Jesus,  being  Messiah, 
had  authority  to  institute  such  a  baptism.  The 
fact  that  Jesus'  disciples  became  a  brotherhood 
holding  their  own  meetings,  "with  one  accord  in 
one  place,"  did  not  imply  that  they  were  cut  off 
from  Israel.  Theirs  was  one  school,  or  sect,^'^  or 
Way^'^  of  worship  and  conduct — might  it  not  be 
said,  one  synagogue? — among  others.^®  Once  at 
least  it  is  referred  to  in  the  New  Testament  by  this 
last  name — "If  there  come  into  your  synagogue  a 
man  with  a  gold  ring."^°  At  the  same  time,  it  was 
such  a  school,  sect,  synagogue  as  all  the  people 
must  form,  such  a  Way  as  all  must  enter,  or  else 
cut  themselves  off  from  the  religion  of  their  fa- 
thers. 

The  whole  question  may  be  condensed  into  a  sin- 
gle twofold  statement :  Since  Jesus  was  the  Christ, 
those  who  accepted  him,  if  Jews,  continued  in  the 
Church,  and  if  Gentiles,  entered  it;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  those  who  rejected  him,  if  Jews,  sepa- 
rated themselves  from  the  Church,  and  if  Gen- 
tiles, continued  in  separation  therefrom. 

"Acts  xxiv.  5,  14.      '^Acts  ix.  2;  xix.  9. 

"Cf.  the  relation  of  the  early  Moravians  to  the  na- 
tional Church  of  Bohemia,  or  the  relation  of  the  early 
Wesleyans  to  the  Church  of  England. 

^''James  ii.  2.    Cf.  Acts  vi.  9. 


32  Tke  Idea  of  the  Church 

III 

Was  this,  then,  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostle  to 
the  Gentiles?  did  he  hold  that  those  to  whom  his 
ministry  was  specially  devoted  were  coming, 
through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  into  the  communion 
of  God's  ancient  people?  This  is  indeed  the 
thought  that  appears  repeatedly  in  his  teachings. 
"But  if  some  of  the  branches  [unbelieving  Isra- 
el] were  broken  off,  and  thou  [believing  Gentiles], 
being  a  wild  olive  tree,  wast  grafted  in  among 
them,  and  didst  become  partaker  with  them  of  the 
root  and  of  the  fatness  of  the  olive  tree."^^  All 
were  not  Israel  that  were  of  Israel.  Who,  then, 
were  the  true  Israel?  "We  are  the  circumcision, 
who  worship  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  glory  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  have  no  confidence  in  the 
flesh."^^  Paul  will  not  give  the  historic  church 
name,  "the  circumcision,"  to  the  Judaizers,  who 
reject  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  but  invents  for 
them  a  new  name:  they  are  "the  concision,"  and 
he  bids  the  Christians  "beware"  of  them.^^  Again : 
"And  as  many  as  walk  by  this  rule,  peace  be  upon 
them,  and  mercy,  and  [or  even]  upon  the  Israel 
of  God."-^  As  for  himself,  Paul  said  that,  though 
after  the  way  which  they  (his  misbelieving  oppo- 
nents) called  "a  sect,"  he  served  the  God  of  his 
fathers,  'Tselieving  all  things  which  are  according 

='Rom.  xi.  17,  IS-.      -Phil.  iii.  3.      "Phil.  iii.  2. 
"Gal.  vi.  16. 


As  the  New  Israel  33 

to  the  law  and  which  are  written  in  the  prophets" ; 
and  that  his  violent  arrest  found  him  "purified  in 
the  temple."^''  Was  he  chained  to  a  soldier  and 
sent  as  a  prisoner  to  Rome?  It  was  not  becanse 
he  had  done  anything  contrary  to  the  customs  of 
the  fathers;  but  "because  of  the  Jtope  of  Israel" 
he  was  "bound  with  this  chain. "-'^  Ecclesiastically, 
as  well  as  racially  and  religiously,  this  peerless 
proclaimer  of  Jesus  as  Messiah  was  "a  Hebrew  of 
the  Hebrews." 

God  had  not  cast  away  his  people ;  but  the 
promise  made  to  Abraham  the  forefather  was 
fulfilled  in  Jesus ;  and  so  from  Abraham  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  the  chosen  and  redeemed  ec- 
clesia  was  organically  one.^'^ 

The  same  truth  is  strongly  suggested  in  the 
name  by  which  the  Church  is  uniformly  described 
in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  called  "the  Church 
of  God."^*  One  might  have  supposed  that  it  would 
be  called  "the  Church  of  Christ."  Did  not  Jesus 
himself,  confessed  as  Messiah,  call  it  his  Church  ? 
Especially  in  reading  the  Pauline  epistles,  where 
every  mental  movement  of  the  writer  is  trans- 
fused with  the  consciousness  of  the  living  Christ, 
who  is  specifically  set  forth  as  breaking  down  all 
barriers  and  making  all  peoples — Hebrew,  Greek, 
Barbarian — one   in   himself,   we   might   have  ex- 

"Acts  xxiv.  14-18.      =«Acts  xxviii.  17-20. 
=^Gal.  ili.  16-29. 

^Acts  XX.  28;  1  Cor.  x,  32;  1  Tim.  iii.  5, 
3 


34:  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

pected  to  meet  again  and  again  with  the  descrip- 
tive name  "the  Church  of  Christ."  But  it  is  not 
so.  Even  in  speaking  of  the  outrages  he  com- 
mitted against  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  Paul  says, 
"I  persecuted  the  Church  of  God.'"^^  It  is  as  if, 
throughout  the  New  Testament,  the  conception  of 
the  continuity  of  the  Church,  before  the  coming  of 
Christ  and  during  his  incarnate  life  and  ever 
afterwards,  was  so  prominent  and  prevailing  that 
it  must  be  embodied  in  a  name  that  would  remain 
one  and  the  same  through  all  eras  and  ages — "The 
Church  of  God."  Certainly  when  the  Christian 
Congregation  was  called  by  this  name,  any  Jew- 
ish hearer,  whether  in  Palestine  or  in  the  Disper- 
sion, would  associate  it  with  the  Church  of  which 
he  read  habitually  in  his  Greek  or  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures.^" 

It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  add,  that  it  would 
be  an  utter  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  idea  of 
Christ's  headship  of  the   Church  is  rare  in  the 

^'Gal.  i.  13.  "It  is  very  striking  that  at  this  time, 
when  his  antagonism  to  the  Judaizers  was  at  its  hot- 
test, he  never  for  a  moment  set  a  new  Ecclesia  against 
the  old,  an  Ecclesia  of  Jesus  or  even  an  Ecclesia  of 
the  Christ  against  the  Ecclesia  of  God,  but  implicitly 
taught  his  heathen  converts  to  believe  that  the  body 
into  which  they  were  baptized  was  itself  the  Ecclesia 
of  God."     (Hort,  "The  Christian  Ecclesia,"  p.  108.) 

^°Cf.  the  chosen  number  of  the  apostles,  apparently 
representing  symbolically  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel; 
also  Rev.  iv.  4;  xv.  3;  xxi.  12,  14. 


As  the  New  Israel  35 

New  Testament  writings.  In  fact,  it  pervades 
them.  It  is  the  very  crown  and  glory  of  the 
Church  idea :  "And  gave  Him  to  be  head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church,  which  is  his  body,  the  full- 
ness of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all."-''^  And  in  a  few 
passages  it  is  expressed,  with  reference  to  the  local 
congregation,  as  a  part  of  the  Church  name;  as 
when  Paul  speaks  of  "the  churches  of  God  which 
are  in  Judea  in  Christ  Jesus,"''^  or  says  to  the 
Romans,  "All  the  churches  of  Christ  salute  you,"^' 
or  to  the  Thessalonians,  "Unto  the  church  of  the 
Thessalonians  in  God  the  Father  and  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."^*  But  just  as  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment there  appears  predominantly  the  name 
"kingdom  of  God,"  which  is  also  shown  to  be  one 
with  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  so  is  it  Avith  the  in- 
stitutional expression  of  God's  kingdom,  the 
Church.  It  is  so  named  that  we  shall  ever  be  re- 
minded of  its  continuity,  oneness,  universality — 
"the  Church  of  Ood." 

IV 

The  Church  therefore  includes  the  people  of 
God  under  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Covenant. 
Or,  if  one  may  attempt  to  describe  it  in  the  form 
of  a  definition,  it  is  the  ideally  united  societies  of 
all  those  in  all  ages  who  truly  receive  the  revela- 

='Eph.  i.  22,  23.      ^1  Thess.  ii.  14;  Gal.  i.  22. 
"Rom.  xvi.  16.      =n  Thess.  i.  1. 


36  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

tion  that  God  has  given  of  himself,  as  recorded  in 
the  Scriptures. 

Here,  then,  is  the  ecclesiastical  succession.  In 
its  continuous  history  it  reaches  back  to  the  father 
of  the  faithful.  Through  innumerable  infideli- 
ties, usurpations,  schisms,  and  idolatries,  both  in 
Israel  and  in  Christendom,  the  x\lmighty's  hand 
has  been  upon  it,  to  preserve  the  sometimes  worn 
and  wasted  remnant  of  his  true  witnesses,  and  to 
bring  his  own  eternal  counsel  to  pass.  Even  "be- 
fore Abraham  was,*'  the  uncreated  Word  was  in 
the  world  he  himself  had  made,  and  wherever  men, 
under  the  illumination  of  his  presence,  met  to- 
gether, though  but  two  or  three  were  thus  asso- 
ciated, "to  call  upon  the  name  of  Jehovah,"  there 
was  "a  house  [household]  of  God,  a  Church  of  the 
living  God,'"  a  pillar  and  stay  of  the  truth.  This 
and  much  more  is  the  larger  meaning  when  the 
confession  is  made,  "I  believe  in  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church,  the  communion  of  saints." 

V 

If  this  is  so,  what  shall  we  say  that  Jesus  did, 
in  founding  his  Church?  Fulfilling  the  Messian- 
ic, or  Christian,  prophecies,  he  gave  himself  for  it; 
he  redeemed  it  unto  God  with  his  own  blood,  and 
gathered  it  about  his  cross.  But  Jesus  also  chose 
a  company  of  twelve  men  to  be  with  him,  as 
learners  and  doers  of  his  Father's  will,  till  it 
should  become  expedient  that  he  should  go  away 


As  the  New  Israel  37 

from  them.  They  were  to  be  his  apostles;  but 
first  of  all,  they  were  associated  disciples  (a  school 
a  flock,  a  household,  a  church),  and  it  is  by  this 
name  almost  exclusively  that  they  are  known  in 
the  Gospels.^^  After  the  Ascension,  they  were 
sent  forth  by  their  Lord  to  win  others  everywhere 
into  the  same  discipleship.  Still  further,  Jesus 
instituted  baptism  as  the  rite  of  admission  into 
this  visible  Christian  ecclesia,  and  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per as  the  memorial  of  his  passion  and  death,  and 
the  rite  of  fellowship  with  himself  and  with  one 
another.  Thus  was  the  foundation  laid  for  the 
building  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  Messianic 
age. 

No  form  or  order  of  congregational  worship  was 
prescribed.  The  prayer  that  Jesus  bade  the  disci- 
ples say,  though  essentially  social  and  impossible 
to  be  offered  in  a  spirit  of  selfishness,  was  not  un- 
derstood by  them,  nor,  we  may  believe,  intended 
by  him,  as  a  fixed  form  for  their  devotional  meet- 
ings. He  sung  a  hymn  (one  of  the  Passover 
psalms,  probably)  with  the  Eleven,  just  before 
passing  from  the  holy  rapture  of  the  Upper  Room 
into  the  agony  of  Gethsemane.  He  taught  that 
those  who  believe  in  him  should  meet  in  his  name, 
and  should  agree  in  their  prayers.  But  when  and 
how  often  they  should  pray,  and  what  order  of 

'•^They  are  called  apostles  by  Matthew  once,  by 
Mark  once,  by  Luke  six  times,  by  John  not  at  all. 


38  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

pra3^er  and  praise  and  Scripture  reading  should 
be  observed  by  them,  either  privately  or  congrega- 
tionally,  was  not  to  be  learned  either  from  the 
commands  or  from  the  example  of  their  Lord. 
That  was  to  be  determined  from  time  to  time  by 
themselves,  in  their  own  assemblies,  through  the 
promptings  of  their  own  inner  life,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  promised  Spirit  of  truth. 

And  this  liberty  has  been  accepted  without  mis- 
giving by  the  Churches  in  all  the  world,  and  used 
or  abused  according  to  the  measure  of  the  Chris- 
tian mind  attained  by  them.  It  has  not  been  felt 
that  there  must  have  been  given  at  the  very  be- 
ginning some  positive  and  specific  law  in  this  mat- 
ter. 

It  has  seemed  to  many,  however,  that  some  fixed 
and  unalterable  form  of  ecclesiastical  government 
must  have  been  prescribed  by  the  Lord.  Not  in- 
deed as  to  matters  of  detail ;  for  that  would  have 
been  to  lay  a  yoke  of  intolerable  bondage  upon  his 
people ;  but  as  to  certain  paramount  requirements. 
At  least  a  norm  of  Church  organization  must  have 
formed  a  part  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  himself. 
Would  such  legislation  be  left  even  to  the  wisdom 
of  men  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  truth  was  to  abide  ? 

But  the  less  theoretical  question  is :  Was  it  left 
so,  as  a  matter  of  fact?  This  question,  it  will 
hardly  be  denied,  has  been  answered  affirmatively 
by  the  best  New  Testament  scholarship  of  our  day. 
We  do  find,  on  the  successive  pages  of  the  New 


As  the  New  Israel  39 

Testament,  everything  that  could  be  said  or  done 
to  form  the  Christlike  mind  in  the  brotherhood  of 
disciples,  and  to  help  them  act  in  all  the  affairs 
of  life  with  sound  wisdom  and  discretion;  but  of 
one  indispensable  form  of  rule  and  administration 
in  the  Church,  either  in  detail  or  in  outline,  there 
is  no  evidence.  For  here,  too,  has  the  Christian 
Congregation^®  been  called  unto  liberty  with  all 
its  joy  and  with  all  its  pain  of  responsibility. 

Ecclesiastical,  unlike  spiritual,  needs  are  not 
of  necessity  the  same  in  all  places  and  throughout 
all  generations.  Therefore  it  has  been  made  the 
duty  of  the  Christian  Church,  choosing  its  own 
offices  and  officers,  out  of  the  consciousness  of  its 
own  needs,  to  govern  itself  in  the  name  of  the  one 
Saviour  and  King. 

Through  the  testimony  of  Jesus'  witnesses,  the 
number  of  believers  multiplied  exceedingly.     In 

^"The  word  congregation  will  be  used  in  this  book 
as  a  synonym  of  church.  It  was  the  one  word  by 
which  ecclesia  was  translated  in  Tyndale's  New  Tes- 
tament, indeed  in  the  New  Testaments  generally  of 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  in  the  Bishop's  Bible  of 
Elizabeth's  reign.  One  of  the  items  of  instruction 
given  the  translators  (or  rather  revisers)  who  pro- 
duced our  Authorized  Version  was:  "The  old  ecclesi- 
astical words  to  be  kept,  viz.,  the  word  church  not 
to  be  translated  congregation,  etc."  Of  the  two  words, 
however,  congregation  better  represents  the  original 
word  than  does  church.  See  "Preface  to  the  Revised 
Version";  Hort,  "The  Christian  Ecclesia,"  p.  2. 


iO  Th<>  Idea  of  the  Church 

.lerii?alem  it  soon  came  to  bo  about  five  thousand, 
and  increased  "unto  multitudes  both  of  men  and 
women."'  Throughout  Palestine  Christian  con- 
^•regations.  composed  of  Jews,  Samaritans,  or 
half-Jews,^'   and  proselytes,^*  were  gathered. 

In  a  significant  passage  in  tlie  book  of  Acts  it  is 
recorded :  "So  the  Church  throughout  all  Judea 
and  Samaria  and  Galilee  had  peace,  being  edified ; 
and  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  in  the 
comfort  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  was  multiplied."^® 
This  fruitful  calm  after  days  of  cloud  and  storm 
would  seem  to  mark  the  completion  of  the  first 
stage  in  a  great  history.  The  faithful  in  Israel, 
not  few  in  number  but  multitudes,  have  acknowl- 
edged the  crucified  Jesus  as  Lord.  In  the  home- 
land of  Jehovah's  people — Judea,  Calilee,  Sama- 
ria— is  now  this  new  and  true  Israel,  the  Congre- 
gation of  the  Christ,  who  has  come  to  his  own. 
The  Church  of  God,  within  the  geographical  lim- 
its of  its  ancient  abode,  centered  about  the  Holy 
City,  has  fully  entered  iipon  the  ^lessianic  age. 

And  now  a  question  was  raised,  historically  the 
first  great  question  in  ecclesiastical  politv.  Its 
importance  could  not  well  he  exaggerated;  for  it 
l)rought  on  a  crisis  that  so  disturbed  the  peace  of 
the  Church  as  to  threaten  its  very  existence.  It 
was  on  this  wise.    The  gospel  of  the  kingdom  had 

'•Acts  viii.  1-25.       =«Acts  ii.  10;  vi.  5;  x.  22,  35. 
»»Acts  ix.  31. 


As  the  JVew  Israel  41 

begun  to  be  published  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
land  of  Israel.  Scattered  by  the  persecution  in 
which  Stephen  gained  the  martyr's  crown,  there 
were  Christian  disciples  that  found  their  way  to 
Antioch  in  Syria.  In  this  far-famed  center  of 
Graeco-Eoman  civilization,  a  congregation  made 
up  of  both  Jews  and  Greeks  was  formed.  Here, 
then,  the  inevitable  question  was  formally  and  dis- 
tinctly raised :  On  w^iat  terms  may  Gentiles  be  ad- 
mitted into  the  Church  ?  shall  they  be  subjected  to 
such  requirements  as  have  always  been  imposed 
upon  proselytes  to  the  faith  of  Israel,  or  shall  they 
be  received  on  simple  profession  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ?  A  disastrous  schism  seemed  imminent. 
But  the  mind  of  Christ  was  dominant  in  his  peo- 
ple. The  spirit  of  brotherhood  and  respect  for 
authority,  in  the  Antiochian  brethren,  prompted 
them  to  refer  the  question  to  the  apostles  and 
elders  in  Jerusalem.  These  Christian  leaders,  as- 
sembled in  council,  were  divinely  guided  to  a  de- 
cision which,  in  the  way  of  compromise,  success- 
fully met  the  emergency.*"  The  Church  was  being 
led,  as  fast  as  it  grew  strong  enough  to  follow,  into 
the  full  knowledge  of  the  N"ew  Covenant  in  Christ, 
under  which  it  should  live  and  prevail. 

Meantime  the  Apostle  Paul,  latest  called  and 
most  abundant  in  labors  of  all  the  apostolic  wit- 
nesses, had  entered  upon  his  ever-widening  mis- 

«Acts  XV.  28,  29. 


i2  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

sionary  circuits.  In  Pisidian  Antioch  the  first 
distinctively  Gentile  Christian  congregation  had 
been  gathered.  The  great-hearted  evangelist  went 
on,  opening  the  gate  of  faith  not  only  to  the  Jews 
of  the  Dispersion  but  also  to  the  nations,  fully  de- 
claring the  gospel  of  Christ  in  the  chief  cities  of 
Asia  and  Europe.  The  same  terms  of  salvation 
and  of  admission  into  Church  fellowship  were  of- 
fered to  all  men  without  respect  to  race  or  pre- 
vious religious  faith. 

The  Judaic  ritual  rapidly  fell  awa}^  displaced 
by  the  word  and  the  sacraments  of  Christ.  The 
new  wine  must  have  new  bottles.  Instead  of  cir- 
cumcision, baptism;  instead  of  the  Passover,  the 
Lord's  Supper.  The  day  of  the  Eesurrection  came 
to  be  celebrated,  not  through  any  specific  enact- 
ment but  through  the  teaching  of  the  Spirit  in 
Christian  experience,  as  a  day  of  joyful  rest  and 
worship,  in  place  of  the  ancient  Sabbath.  The 
new  Israel,  called  unto  liberty,  was  both  governed 
and  trusted.  Is  it  not  God's  way  of  making  man, 
of  developing  personality',  of  educating  his  saints 
for  service  and  supremacy?  To  them  the  Word 
and  ordinances  of  their  Lord  are  immutable  law, 
but  within  these  bounds  of  law  the  forms  of  liturgy 
and  of  organization  must  be  freely  chosen  and 
maintained.  To  refuse  any  liberty  with  which 
they  have  been  intrusted  at  his  hand,  would  be  not 
humility  or  obedience,  but  faitlilessness.  "The 
Jerusalem  which  is  above  is  free." 


'  A.s  the  Neio  Inrael  43 

But  liberty  is  not  disunion.  On  the  contrary,  it 
is  a  necessary  condition  of  spiritual  unity.  It  is 
an  element  of  that  inner  life  which,  rather  than 
any  external  pressure  of  command,  has  the  power 
to  unify  souls.  For  human  beings  do  not  find  their 
unity  in  uniformity  and  aggregation,  like  a  build- 
ing constructed  with  hammer  and  saw:  they  are 
"living  stones.'"*^  which  grow  into  a  temple  of  the 
Lord.''^ 

"1  Pet.  ii.  5.      ■^'Eph.  il.  21. 


Ill 

AS  A  COMMUNION  AND  CONGREGATION 

The  world  is  one.  Across  all  distances  of  space 
and  time  the  voices  of  the  heart  speak  to  each 
other,  calling  and  answering.  The  subtle  ques- 
lioning,  the  idea  tinged  with  emotion,  the  new  ex- 
perience that  seemed  peculiar  to  oneself — it  ap- 
pears some  day  in  the  words  of  another,  written 
down  perhaps  in  the  tent  of  a  warrior,  perhaps  in 
the  cell  of  a  monk,  perhaps  in  the  diary  of  an  im- 
aginative girl,  centuries  ago.  Looking  sympa- 
thetically into  any  piece  of  literature,  one  feels  a 
heart-heat,  or  sees  a  face,  Avhich  is  at  the  same 
time  another's  and  one's  OAvn.^ 

A  traveler  at  the  encis  of  the  earth,  or  a  mis- 
sionary   making    his    home    there,    finds    himself 

'"One  recent  summer  at  Oxford.  I  saw  the  clean, 
white  skull — once  the  dome  of  thought — of  that  fair 
young  girl  who,  dying  in  Egypt,  was  buried  with  her 
favorite  copy  of  Homer  under  her  head. 
There  lay  together  a  coil  of  hair  and  the  leaves  of 
Homer's  immortal  song.  With  the  instinct  and  the 
sympathy  of  a  lover  of  letters,  I  could  appreciate  the 
maiden's  desire,  and  with  a  thrill  across  the  centuries 
I  made  greeting."  (W.  E.  Griffls,  in  the  Sunday 
School  Times.) 
(44) 


jis  Conmiunlon  and  Congregation         45 

among  his  own  kith  and  kin.  The  most  pitifully 
stunted  growths  of  intellect  and  conscience — say, 
that  of  a  Patagonian  or  a  Negrito — do  not  prove 
the  absence  of  the  essential  humanity  of  man.  in 
spirit  a  man  may  shut  the  doors  of  his  heart  and 
live  in  enmity  or  indifference;  but  in  fact  he  is 
still  a  member  of  the  race  and  akin  to  all  the  rest. 
So,  there  is  a  world-wide  communion  of  humanity. 

Conspicuous  among  the  common  elements  of 
human  nature  is  the  capacity  for  religion.  Bishop 
Thoburn,  of  India,  has  said :  ''Going  over  this 
world,  as  I  have  been  doing  for  many  years  past, 
I  have  been  among  people  of  many  nations.  They 
differ  in  many  things.  I  am  now  in  charge  of  a 
mission  where  we  are  preaching  in  twenty-fivo 
different  languages.  They  differ  in  language ;  they 
differ  in  complexion ;  they  differ  in  many  respects 
in  character;  but  in  one  respect  they  are  all  alike. 
Their  sins  are  the  same ;  their  inward  tendencies 
are  the  same ;  the  consequences  of  their  sins  are 
the  same.  There  is  a  blight  that  comes  upon  all. 
and  it  is  exactly  alike  in  all  countries."^ 

I  have  heard  a  missionary,  William  H.  Shep- 
pard,  who  had  spent  fifteen  years  in  the  heart  of 
Africa,  say  that  in  all  the  journejdngs  of  himself 
and  his  fellow-missionaries  among  the  various 
tribes,  cannibals  and  others,  they  had  found  none 

^Address  on  The  Healing  of  the  Nations,  in  "Mls- 
sioTiary  Issues  of  the  Twentieth  Century,"  p,  47, 


46  Tiie  Idea  of  the  Church 

that  did  not  believe  in  a  Supreme  Being,  and  on 
the  other  hand,  none  who  believed  "that  he  loved 
them."  "If  we  had  known  that  he  loved  ns,"  said 
Christian  converts,  "we  would  have  been  singing 
to  him.'' 

Francis  Parkman,  whose  views  were  widely  at 
variance  with  those  of  the  Christian  missionary, 
tells  a  similar  story  of  the  American  savage  un- 
touched by  civilization :  "The  old  man  was  quite 
unconscious  of  my  presence.  ...  I  saw  him 
seated  alone,  immovaljle  as  a  statue,  among  the 
rocks  and  trees.  His  face  was  turned  upward, 
and  his  eves  seemed  riveted  on  a  pine  tree  spring- 
ing from  a  cleft  in  the  precipice  above.  The  crest 
of  the  pine  was  swayirg  to  and  fro  in  the  wind, 
and  its  long  limbs  waved  slowly  up  and  down,  as 
if  the  tree  had  life.  Looking  for  a  while  at  the 
old  man,  I  was  satisfied  he  was  engaged  in  an  act 
of  worship  or  prayer,  or  communion  of  some  kind 
with  a  supernatural  being.  ...  I  knew  that 
though  the  intellect  of  an  Indian  can  embrace  the 
idea  of  an  all-wise,  all-powerful  Spirit,  ...  he 
is  prone  to  turn  for  relief  to  some  inferior  agency, 
less  removed  from  the  ordinary  scope  of  his  fac- 
ulties."3 

In  their  sins,  in  their  feeling  after  God,  if  hap- 
ly they  may  find  him,  in  their  need  of  revelation 

"'The  Oregon  Trail"  (H.  M.  Caldwell  Company), 
p.  209.     See  also  pp.  154,  185. 


As  Communio)t  and  Congregation         47 

and  redemption,  the  hearts  of  men  beat  with  the 
same  broken  but  unmistakable  pulsations.* 

Compare  the  bright-plumaged  bird  of  an  Afri- 
can forest  with  the  savage  who  kills  and  devours 
it,  or  with  the  worse  savage,  the  white  slave- 
catcher,  who,  for  the  sake  of  a  few  dollars,  or 
even  from  sheer  wanton  cruelty,  enslaves  or  mu- 
tilates or  murders  his  black  brother.  The  bird  is 
a  delight  of  the  eyes,  the  man  an  object  of  loath- 
ing. But  there  is  at  the  same  time  an  infinitely 
significant  difference  in  the  man's  favor.  The 
beautiful  bird,  though  perfect  in  its  kind,  is  a 
part  of  nature,  with  no  higher  impulse  or  idea :  it 
seems  to  be  already  made.  But  the  savage,  black 
or  white,  is  only  in  the  making.  In  him  is  a  low- 
er, which  is  coarse-grained  or  diabolical  nature, 
and  a  higher,  which  is  potential  sonship  to  God. 

A  spark  disturbs  our  clod; 
Nearer  we  hold  of  God 
Who  gives,  than  of  his  tribes  that  take,  I  must  believe. 

So  there  is  a  moral  and  religious  kinship  between 
soul  and  soul,  wherever  found — a  religious  com- 
munion of  humanity. 

^"The  definite  establishment  of  this  proposition  is 
perhaps  the  greatest  service  that  the  history  and 
psychology  of  religion  have  furnished.  .  .  .  The 
'tribe  destitute  of  religion'  is  found  to  be  purely  im- 
aginary." (Coe,  "Education  in  Morals  and  Religion," 
pp.  37,  38.) 


4:8  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

I 

The  one  answer  to  the  religious  need  of  the 
world  is  Christ.  The  same  honored  missionary 
bishop  whose  words  were  jnst  now  quoted  has 
borne  this  witness:  "There  has  been  a  great  deal 
of  speculation,  or  what  you  might  call  general 
moralizing;  but  in  the  space  of  more  than  forty 
years  I  have  never  met  a  man  or  woman  who  had 
a  personal  knowledge  of  God,  unless  it  was  some 
one  who  had  found  him  through  the  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ."  Is  not 
such  an  observation  of  facts  in  accord  with  the 
Lord's  own  word,  "No  one  comcth  unto  the  Father 
but  by  me"  ?  Therefore  it  seems  quite  clear  how 
all  men  may  enter  into  conscious  kinship  in  Christ, 
and  how  real  their  fellowship  in  him  may  become. 
Closer  than  that  of  a  common  humanity  or  that 
of  a  common  religious  need  and  potentiality  is  the 
aflinity  of  those  who  have  found  their  true  self  in 
the  Son  of  God.  There  is  a  veritable  brotherhood 
of  those  that  "are  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,  called 
to  be  saints,"  a  Christ  Ian  communion. 

Now  this  Christian  communion  will  naturally 
and  inevitably  express  itself  in  congregation.  Like 
will  not  only  find  but  associate  with  its  like.  Fel- 
lowship will  congregate.  Those  who  know  one 
another  in  Christ  must  needs  meet  together.  So 
close  are  they  akin,  so  truly  a  spiritual  household, 
that  it  would  be  difficult  to  picture  them  scattered 
here   and   there   without   external   association   or 


As  Comm/union  and  Congregation  49 

bond  of  union.  They  will  form  congregations,  as- 
semblages, eeclesiane.  And  what  are  these  congre- 
gations? Separatel}'  considered,  they  are  Chris- 
tian churches ;  in  their  totality,  the  universal 
Church  of  Christ.*'"' 

The  first  great  example  was  given  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost ;  and  it  may  be  taken  as  marking  the 
birthday  of  tliis  Church  of  the  New  Covenant. 
For  previous  to  this  time  the  Christ  had  not  been 
fully  revealed  by  the  Spirit  even  to  his  own  disci- 
ples of  two  or  three  years'  standing ;  and  hence  the 
word  of  testimony  through  which  men  were  to  be 
gathered  together  in  his  name  had  not  been  spoken. 
But  now  this  new  beginning,  the  consummation 
of  the  ages,  was  reached.  Its  significant  features 
were,  on  the  one  hand,  the  power  of  the  Spirit  and 
the  preaching  of  Jesus  as  the  Christ,  and,  on  the 
other,  as  a  result,  the  conversion  of  souls  to  Jesus 
and  their  immediate  association  in  Christian  fel- 
lowship. 

Let  us  recall  the  familiar  but  still  inadequately 
appreciated  story :   The   disciples  now  number  a 

^Whether,  in  the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  phrases,  "the 
Holy  Catholic  Church"  and  "the  communion  of  saints" 
are  to  be  taken  as  appositional  expressions,  or  wheth- 
er "the  communion  of  saints"  means  simply  the  spir- 
itual fellowship  of  Christians  on  earth  and  in  heaven, 
is  matter  of  doubt.  See  Luther's  "Larger  Catechism"; 
"Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,"  Chapter  XXVL; 
SchafE,  "History  of  the  Church."  Vol.  VL,  p.  617,  n. 
4 


50  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

little  "multitude  of  persons,  about  a  hundred  and 
twenty."^  They  are  met  in  united  prayer  for  the 
revealing  and  empowering  Spirit,  according  to  the 
promise  of  the  Father;  the  promised  gift  is  com- 
municated from  heaven — not  an  influence,  but  the 
Spirit  himself  making  Christ  known  in  believing 
hearts.  It  finds  spontaneous  expression  in  fervid 
witnessing  speech,  in  which  the  glorified  Christ  is 
preached  ;  people  hear,  are  convinced,  inquire  what 
they  shall  do ;  they  are  baptized  in  the  name  of  Je- 
sus as  the  Christ ;  they  continue  in  the  teaching  of 
the  apostles,  and  in  the  new  Christian  fellowship; 
they  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  offer 
prayers  together;  others  are  added  to  their  num- 
ber from  day  to  day  of  such  as  are  being  saved ; 
and  so  the  work  of  the  interpreting  and  sanctify- 
ing Spirit  goes  on.'' 

Here,  then,  was  the  uprising  of  a  visible  broth- 
erhood, an  evangelical  congregation,  at  a  certain 
place,  on  a  certain  day.  But  what  was  the  chief 
event  on  this  day  of  Pentecost — that  for  which  it 
stands  preeminently?  Not  the  gathering  of  a 
church,  but  the  revelation  of  the  divine  Christ 
which  made  it  possible.  The  social  fellowship  of 
the  recipients  of  this  revelation  was  an  effect  of 
their  fellowship  with  him.  And  shall  not  this 
first  day  of  the  Christian  Church  be  taken  as  a 
type  of  every  subsequent  day  of  its  history  ?  First, 
the   common    spiritual    life,   but   immediately   its 

"Acts  i.  15.      'Acts  ii. 


As  Comrmmion  and  Congregatioii         51 

forms  of  expression  and  activity;  first,  the  com- 
munion of  saints,  but  with  it  the  congregation; 
first,  the  realized  kingdom  of  God,  then  the 
Church. 

The  rapid  development  of  this  congregational- 
ism,  this  church  idea,  is  illustrated  in  the  three 
conspicuous  names  by  which  those  who  were  won 
to  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  are  designated  in  the 
N'ew  Testament.  While  the  ]\Iaster  was  yet  with 
them  in  the  flesh,  as  narrated  in  the  four  Gospels, 
they  are  called  "disciples"  (fw.6-qTat,  learners).  In 
the  Acts  this  name  is  for  the  most  part,  and  in 
the  Epistles  wholly,  superseded  by  the  name 
'*brethren."^  Paul  speaks  of  the  Christians  never 
as  disciples,  frequently  as  brethren.  Now  the 
word  disciple  is  individualistic,  it  might  be  ap- 
plied to  a  single  person;  but  brethren,  a  correla- 
tive, implies  that  there  must  be  at  least  one  other 
person.  Disciple  makes  prominent  the  relation  to 
the  teacher;  brethren  makes  prominent  the  social 
relation.  Disciples  as  such  cannot,  while  brethren 
as  such  may,  constitute  a  church. 

Brethren  may  constitute  a  church.  That  which 
is  necessary,  in  addition  to  mutuality,  or  brother- 
hood, is  represented  by  the  third  of  the  three 
conspicuous  names  of  Jesus'  followers,  in  the  New 

*Only  once  are  the  disciples  spoken  of  in  the  Gos- 
pels as  "brethren";  and  in  this  case — John  xxi.  23 — 
the  word  is  evidently  the  name  by  which  they  were 
known  at  the  time  when  the  passage  was  written. 


52  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Testament.  They  are  called,  oftener  indeed  than 
by  any  other  title,  "saints"  (ayioi,  set  apart  for 
God,  holy  ones).  A  company  of  brethren  set  apart 
for  God  in  Jesus  Christ  do  constitute  and  are  a 
church. 

So  it  was  that  the  Christward  relation  of  learn- 
ers developed  of  necessity  a  social  relation  of  broth- 
ers, all  alike  consecrated  to  the  heavenly  Father  in 
Christ's  name.  It  was  all  contained  beforehand, 
both  as  a  fact  and  as  an  ideal  to  be  made  more  and 
more  a  fact,  in  the  only  ^Master's  great  word :  "Be 
not  ye  called  Eabbi ;  for  one  is  your  teacher  and 
all  ye  are  brethren."® 

And  now  if  one  should  ask,  Is  not  organization 
an  essential  element  of  the  church  idea?  the  an- 
swer must  be,  that  it  is  not.  However  useful,  how- 
ever practically  certain  to  appear,  it  is  not  con- 
stitutive, not  essential.  A  church  may  exist,  gen- 
uine and  complete,  without  a  single  officer,  or  es- 
tablished rule  of  procedure,  or  form  of  govern- 
ment. It  may  well  be  defined  not  as  an  organiza- 
tion but  as  "a  congregation  of  faithful  men."^" 

'Matt,  xxiii.  10. 

'""The  church  as  totum  essentiale  is.  and  may  be, 
before  officers."  (Thomas  Hooker,  Preface  of  "Sum 
of  Church  Discipline,"  Old  South  Leaflet,  p.  11.) 


As  Cornmunion  and  Congregation         53 

II 

Most  of  those  who  were  thus  brought  into  fel- 
lowship with  the  ascended  Christ  and  with  one 
another  may  be  supposed  to  have' been  heads  of 
families,  fathers  and  mothers.  How  about  their 
children?  Were  these  also  to  be  regarded,  as  in 
Israel,  members  of  the  Christian  congregation,  or 
were  they  not  to  be  accounted  of  at  all?  Was 
membership  in  the  New  Israel  to  be  purely  indi- 
vidualistic, or  should  the  family  idea  still  find 
some  ecclesiastical  recognition? 

The  New  Testament  offers  no  direct  answer  to 
such  a  question.  And  its  silence  is  often  differ- 
ently interpreted,  apparently  in  accordance  with 
the  differing  ecclesiological  views  of  the  interpret- 
ers. Some  have  said.  It  is  because  the  case  is 
plain  enough  that  the  children  are  still  to  have  a 
share  with  their  parents  in  the  Lord's  covenant; 
others  have  maintained,  It  is  plainly  because  in- 
fant children,  being  incapable  of  repentance  and 
faith,  which  are  the  conditions  of  Christian  bap- 
tism, are  in  no  sense  whatever  entitled  to  inclu- 
sion in  a  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  view  of  the  already  existing  inclusiveness  of 
the  Church,  and  of  the  strongly  authoritative  and 
representative  character  of  the  head  of  a  house- 
hold in  Israel,^^  it  would  seem  likely  that  at  least 
the  Jewish  converts  to  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus 

"Gen.  xviii.  19;  Lev.  xix.  1-3;  Josh.  xxiv.  15;  Luke 
xix.  9;  Acts  xvi.  31;  1  Tim.  iii.  4,  5. 


54  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

would  expect  somehow  to  include  their  households, 
and  surely  their  infant  children,  in  the  new  Con- 
gregation which  they  were  entering.  This  infer- 
ence is  rendered  distinctly  more  probable  by  the 
household  baptisms  narrated  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment.^- It  is  also  strengthened  by  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  as  this  was  becoming  better  and  more  wide- 
ly known,  concerning  little  children;  for  the 
worth  and  significance  of  childhood  had  never 
been  so  wondrously  declared  as  in  the  words  of  the 
Son  of  Man.^-^ 

Here  appears  the  rite  of  infant  baptism.  As  in 
the  case  of  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day  as  a 
substitute  for  the  ancient  Sabbath,  there  is  no  di- 
rect testimony  to  its  institution,  either  in  the 
Scriptures  or  in  the  earliest  Christian  literature. 
Both  observances,  however,  may  be  accepted  as  due 
not  to  the  corruptions  of  Christianity  but  to  its 
promised  (though  so  often  dishonored)  guidance 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  infant  is  recognized  in 
baptism  as  a  child  of  God,  potentially  God's  child 
in  the  fullest  spiritual  sense,  redeemed  in  Christ, 
under  the  teaching  and  regenerating  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  an  heir  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ; 
and  is  trustfully  dedicated  to  the  Lord's  service. 

That  such  an  ordinance,  like  adult  baptism,  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  all  other  means  of  grace, 
should  have  been  so  fearfully  abused,  is  matter  of 

i=Acts  xvi.  15,  33;  1  Cor.  i.  16. 
'^Matt.  xviii.  10;   xix.  14. 


uLs-  Coiiitnaiuoih  and  Cotigregat'wti  55 

grief,  if  not  surprise,  to  every  instructed  lover  of 
the  gospel. 

That  no  infant  child  is  qualified  for  full  mem- 
bership in  the  Church  is  unquestionable.  That 
every  such  child  is  entitled  to  an  initial  Church 
membership  may  be  taken  as  equally  true.  Here, 
for  illustration,  is  an  enlightened  and  faithfully 
ordered  Christian  home.  The  children  are  not 
left  to  themselves  religiously  in  the  hope  that  by 
and  by,  when  they  shall  have  reached  years  of  dis- 
cretion, they  may  be  converted  and  saved.  They 
are  taught  to  believe  in  God  and  pray  to  him  daily 
as  their  Father,  to  seek  forgiveness  and  a  new 
heart,  to  love  and  obey  the  Saviour,  from  their  in- 
fancy. But  the  very  same  is  the  watch-care  of  the 
Church  over  the  children.  Whether  the  Church  is 
defined  as  consisting  "of  all  those,  throughout  the 
world,  that  profess  the  true  religion,  and  of  their 
children,"^*  or  not,  it  is  to  be  a  care-taker  and  a 
mother  of  the  young  people  in  its  families,  from 
their  earliest  years.  Not  waiting  till  their  minds 
are  preoccupied  with  error  and  evil,  it  is  to  pre- 
occupy them  with  truth  and  good.  Through  the 
pastor,  the  Sunday  school,  the  catechetical  class, 
and,  above  all,  through  the  Christian  parents 
themselves,  it  must  "nurture  them"  not  for  but  "in 
the  chastening  and  admonition  of  the  Lord."^^ 
Thus  may  they  be  brought,  even  in  the  dawn  of 

""Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,"  XXV.  2, 
"Eph.  vi.  4. 


56  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

moral  life,  and  more  and  more,  into  the  commun- 
ion and  congregation  of  Christian  believers. 

And  when  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  con- 
gregation, they  shall  intelligently  and  sincerely 
acknowledge  as  their  own  the  truth  which  has  been 
authoritatively  taught  them,  and  the  regenerative 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  their  baptism 
signifies,  it  shall  be  given  them  to  be  received  for- 
mally and  fully  into  all  the  privileges  of  the  Chris- 
tian household. 

Ill 

Again :  every  society  forms  itself  about  certain 
vital  principles  without  which  it  could  not  exist  at 
all.  Of  these  principles,  moreover,  some  one  may 
be  recognized  as  supreme  and  controlling.  To  il- 
lustrate :  in  a  university,  it  is  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge; in  an  industrial  society,  the  production  of 
wealth ;  in  an  art  societ}^  the  sense  of  beauty ;  in  a 
pagan  cult,  the  conscious  need  mingled  with  the 
dread  of  supernatural  beings ;  and  so  on. 

In  the  Church,  the  supreme  formative  principle 
is  fellowship  wUli  Christ.  "I  am  the  vine,  ye  are 
the  branches."  "In  whom  ye  also  are  builded  to- 
gether for  a  habitation  of  God  in  the  Spirit."  "So 
we,  who  are  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ." 

Need  any  one  be  reminded  that  such  a  fellowship 
is  of  measureless  meaning?  It  includes  all  that 
the  soul  can  know,  enjoy,  become.  Because  it  is  in 
Christ  that  we  find  GodJn  his  highest  and  most 


As  Commumon  and  Congregation         57 

endearing  self-disclosure — "He  that  hath  seen  me 
hath  seen  the  Father" — and  it  is  in  Christ  that  we 
find  man  in  all  his  possible  divineness  and  glory : 
"Xow  we  are  children  of  God.  .  .  .  We  know 
that  if  he  shall  be  manifested,  we  shall  be  like 
him."  To  commune  with  Christ  is  to  love.  It  is 
to  have  the  spirit  of  sonship  toward  the  heavenly 
Father,  and  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  toward  all 
his  human  children,  especially  toM^ard  those  who 
are  "sons  of  God  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus." 
It  is  to  dwell  in  the  Eternal  Love.^^ 

Nevertheless  we  are  not  to  conceive  of  the 
Church  as  a  mere  voluntary  association.  It  came 
into  existence  through  no  "social  contract"  or  for- 
mal covenant.  It  is  something  that  must  be.  It 
is  an  expression  of  the  divine  law  and  order.  No 
less  truly  than  the  family  and  the  State,  the 
Church  has  been  instituted,  and  the  recognition 
of  its  claims  made  obligatory,  by  God  himself.  As 
it  is  not  left  to  the  parent  to  say  whethel"  he  will 

'8"They  are  wroth  with  us,  too,  because  we  call 
each  other  brethren.  .  .  .  But  we  are  your  brethren 
as  well,  by  the  law  of  our  common  mother  nature, 
though  ye  are  hardly  men  because  brothers  so  un- 
kind. At  the  same  time,  how  much  more  fittingly 
they  are  called  brothers  and  counted  brothers  who 
have  been  led  to  the  knowledge  of  God  as  their  com- 
mon Father,  who  have  drunk  in  one  spirit  of  holi- 
ness, who  from  the  same  womb  of  a  common  igno- 
rance have  agonized  into  the  same  light  of  truth." 
(Tertullian,  "Apology,"  c.  39.) 


68  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

acknowledge  and  care  for  his  child,  or  to  the  child 
to  say  whether  he  will  honor  his  parent;  as  it  is 
not  left  to  the  inhabitants  of  any  country  to  say 
whether  they  will  acknowledge  the  legitimate  au- 
thority of  the  civil  government :  so  likewise  is  it  not 
left  to  any  man  to  accept  or  reject  at  his  whim  or 
pleasure  the  published  will  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 
He  that  being  truly  taught  will  not  receive  it, 
shall  be  condemned.  But  an  inseparable  part  of 
this  obligatory  gospel  is  that  congregational  com- 
munion of  believers  which  is  therefore  an  ordi- 
nance of  God. 

Though  love,  then,  is  the  motive  force  which  as- 
sembles men  together  in  Christ's  name,  it  may  not 
unfitly  be  reenforced  by  duty.  The  conscience  may 
come  to  the  help  of  the  heart.  There  is  no  conflict, 
but  a  "preestablished  harmony,"  between  these  two 
inner  impulsions — love,  duty.  Hence  the  injunc- 
tion to  'Tioly  brethren,  partakers  of  a  heavenly 
calling,"  who  are  even  now  showing  love  to  God  in 
ministration  to  the  saints :  "Xot  forsaking  the  as- 
sembling of  ourselves  together,  as  the  custom  of 
some  is."^'' 

Indeed,  is  not  love  itself  a  commandment'^ 
Horace  Mann,  the  great  educator,  said  (in  his 
Tenth  Annual  Eeport)  that  the  state  which  he 
represented  was  "changing  and  ennobling  the  de- 
finition of  a  cardinal  word  in  the  language  of 

"Heb.  iii.  1;  vi.  10;  x.  25. 


As  Communion  and  Congregation         59 

morals,  doing  what  no  king  or  court  with  all  their 
authority,  nor  royal  academy  with  all  their  sages 
and  literary  men,  can  do — she  is  changing  the 
meaning  of  charity  into  duiy."  But  in  truth  the 
ennobled  definition  had  been  made  with  the  utmost 
distinctness,  by  the  highest  possible  Wisdom  and 
Authority — though  not  even  then  for  the  first 
time — nearly  two  millenniums  before.  In  the  law 
of  Christ,  love  is  duty.^^  It  is  the  ethics  of  Jesus, 
which  is  the  splendid  and  perfect  harmony  of  the 
soul,  the  abiding  satisfaction  of  the  moral  nature, 
the  highest  state  of  moral  being  possible  either  to 
aspiration  or  thought. 

Love  is  duty: 
What  further  can  be  sought  for  or  declared? 

To  say,  therefore,  that  love,  or  fellowship  with 
Christ,  the  formative  principle  of  the  Church,  is 
reenforced  by  duty,  is  not  to  cast  upon  it  any  shade 
of  disparagement,  as  if  it  had  to  summon  a  lower 
motive  to  its  aid.  Duty  is  not  a  lower  motive :  it 
moves  on  the  same  plane,  side  by  side,  in  eternal 
brotherhood  and  oneness,  with  love. 

IV 

The  Church  is  also  one.  Because  the  commun- 
ion out  of  which  all  its  congregations  are  formed 
is  one ;  and  this  because  it  is  a  communion  in  one 
Person,  the  Son  of  Man. 

This  is  everywhere  Jesus'  teaching. 

»«Mark  xii.  29-31. 


60  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

This,  too,  is  the  reiterated  apostolic  testimony 
to  the  unified  Church.  "Ye  are  all  one  man  in 
Christ  Jesus. "^®  Many  members,  but  one  body, 
because  one  Head.^°  In  the  superscription  of  the 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  "They  that  are 
sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus"  is  used  as  a  synonym 
for  "The  Church  of  God  which  is  at  Corinth." 
Heredity,  social  position,  race,  nationality,  count 
for  nothing ;  the  common  relation  to  Christ  is  the 
determinative  fact,  '^here  there  cannot  be  Greek 
and  Jew,  circumcision  and  uncircumcision,  barba- 
rian, Scythian,  bondman,  freeman ;  but  Christ  is 
all  and  in  all.''^! 

Paul  stood,  if  ever  man  did,  for  freedom  and 
personality ;  but  with  equal  unconscious  greatness 
of  soul  did  he  stand  for  fellowship.  Not  only 
would  this  pastor  of  "all  the  churches"  heal  dis- 
sensions in  the  local  congregation — "Is  Christ  di- 
vided? was  Paul  crucified  for  you?" — but  with 
tireless  endeavor  would  he  influence  these  widely 
separated  communities,  from  Jerusalem  all  the 
way  to  Eome,  to  stand  together  in  Christian  sym- 
pathy and  cooperation.  In  writing  to  the  church- 
es, he  would  associate  others  with  himself — Sos- 
thenes,  Timothy,  Silvanus,  or  "all  the  brethren 
which  are  with  me,"^^ — ^to  make  the  coinmunica- 

"Gal.  iii.  28.      ^'Rom.  xii.  4:  Eph.  iv.  15. 
='Col.  iii.  11. 

"See  Salutations  of  1  and  2  Cor.,  Phil.,  Col.,  1  and 
2  Thess.,  Gal. 


As  Communion  and  Congregation         61 

tion  not  merely  that  of  an  apostle  or  of  any  office- 
bearer or  of  any  one  pert^on,  but  that  of  brethren 
to  brethren,  of  Christians  in  one  place  to  their 
fellow-Christians  in  another ;  he  wrote  circular  let- 
ters to  be  read  in  different  congregations  f^  made 
himself  the  bearer  of  salutations  not  only  from  in- 
dividuals but  also  from  churches  f^  urged  the  send- 
ing of  gifts  by  the  churches  of  Galatia,  and  even 
by  those  of  Greece,  to  the  needy  Christians  in  Je- 
rusalem;^^ stirred  up  one  community  to  love  and 
good  works  by  calling  attention  to  the  example  of 
others;^*'  would  have  customs  that  obtained  gen- 
erally in  the  congregations  to  be  taken  as  a  guide 
in  any  particular  congregation.^^  With  Mdiat  in- 
tense joy  did  he  offer  thanksgiving  to  God  when 
the  love  of  any  one  church  was  known  to  go  forth 
to  others  !-'^ 

Noteworthy,  also,  in  two  of  Paul's  letters  is  a 
certain  informal  grouping  of  the  churches  or  the 
Christians  of  a  whole  Eoraan  province.  In  the 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  writing  from 
Ephesus,  he  sends  the  greetings  of  all  the  churches 
of  the  province  of  Asia,  of  which  Ephesus  was  the 
chief  administrative  center — "The  churches  of 
Asia  salute  you."-'*  In  the  Second  Epistle,  he 
writes   to   all   the   Christians   of   the   province   of 

='Gal.  i.  1,  2;  Col.  Iv.  16. 

-*2  Cor.  xiii.  13;  Rom.  xvi.  16.      ==1  Cor.  xvi.  1. 

«'2  Cor.  ix.  2,  3.      =■!  Cor.  xi.  16. 

'^Col.  i.  4.  =»Chap.  xvi.  19. 


62  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Aehaia,  of  which  Corinth  was  the  capital — "unto 
the  Church  of  God  which  is  at  Corinth,  with  all 
the  saints  which  are  in  the  whole  of  Aehaia."'-''" 
In  like  manner,  he  speaks  of  the  Christian  congre- 
gations of  Judea  as  a  sisterhood  or  unity — "the 
churches  of  Judea,' "^^  "the  churches  of  God  which 
are  in  Judea  in  Christ  Jesus.""- 

There  is  still  a  larger  view  to  be  taken.  To 
whom  are  Paul's  epistles  addressed?  To  particu- 
lar churches,  in  particular  circumstances,  Avith  re- 
spect to  particular  needs,  in  reply  perhaps  to  par- 
ticular questions  submitted  to  his  decision,  is  the 
ready  and  familiar  answer.  But  here  is  only  a 
half-truth.  Read  the  Salutation  of  the  First  Epis- 
tle to  the  Corinthians :  "Paul  .  .  .  unto  the  Church 
of  God  which  is  at  Corinth  .  .  .  with  all  that 
call  upon  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
every  i)lace,  their  Lord  and  ours."^'  It  was  not 
the  vision  simply  of  a  particular  church  or  group 
of  churches  that  unveiled  itself  to  the  mind's  eye 
of  this  letter  writer,  but  the  vision  of  "all  that 
call  upon  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
every  place."  It  was  not  simply  to  "the  Church  of 
God  at  Corinth,"  or  in  Aehaia,  or  at  Ephesus,  or 
in  Asia,  to  which  the  inspired  messages  of  this 
impassioned  lover  of  Israel  and  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles  were  sent :  it  was  to  the  Universal  Church. 
In  spirit  they  were  all  ecumenical  letters. 

^"Chap.  i.  1.      ^'Gal.  i.  22. 

'=1  Thess.  ii.  14.    Cf.  1  Cor.  xvi.  1.     '"1  Cor.  i.  1,  2. 


As  Cojnnmnion  and  Congregation         63 

By  every  token,  an  object  of  Paul's  unceasing 
prayer  and  effort  was  the  vital  brotherly  relation- 
ship of  all  believers  in  Jesus  Christ,  whether  Jews 
or  Gentiles,  whether  as  individuals  or  as  congre- 
gated bodies. 

"Was  it  that  the  people  might  come  into  supreme 
admiring  cooperation  with  this  great  apostle's  per- 
sonal leadership  and  supremacy?  That  would 
have  been  to  make  them  idolaters  and  himself  an 
antichrist.  Was  it  that  they  might  be  united  in 
the  common  possession  of  an  idea,  a  principle,  a 
law,  a  transcendent  truth  ?  It  was  that  they  might 
be  united  in  communion  and  congregation  in  Je- 
sus Clirist. 

There  were  certain  means  of  unity.  The  church- 
es were  all  under  the  parental  care  and  guidance 
of  the  same  divineW  commissioned  apostles.  They 
all  acknowledged  the  authority  of  the  same  Old 
Testament  Scriptures — when  able,  doubtless,  pos- 
sessing copies  of  them.  They  all  received  the  same 
evangel  of  the  Cross  and  Eesurrection.  They  all 
had  delivered  unto  them,  in  either  oral  or  written 
form,  words  of  the  Master,  with  which  there  was 
no  argument  and  from  which  there  was  no  ap- 
peal.^* But  these  great  divine  inheritances  were 
after  all  only  means :  the  uniting  power  was  the 
new  life  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself.  To  be 
possessed  of  that,  was  to  be  one  in  spirit  with  all 
its  other  possessors. 

=*Acts  XX.  35;  1  Cor.  vii.  G.  10;  ix.  14;  xi.  23. 


64  The  Idea  of  the  Church 


At  once  the  highest  kIlo^^^l  form  of  being  and 
the  mightiest  power  acknowledged  by  the  human 
lieart  is  personalit}'.  Xo  thing,  however  vast,  nor 
an}-  abstract  idea,  however  sublime,  can  for  a  mo- 
ment enter  into  competition  with  it.  Persons  we 
are,  and  by  persons  must  we  be  enlightened,  edu- 
cated, inspired,  and  ruled.  It  is  not  infinity,  ab- 
soluteness, eternity,  in  which  our  very  life  is  lived, 
but  the  infinite,  absolute,  and  eternal  Person,  the 
living  God,  who  is  the  God  not  of  the  dead  but 
of  the  living.  The  motive  of  all  religion  is  in  the 
cry:  "My  heart  is  athirst  for  God,  for  the  living 
God.    0  that  T  knew  where  I  might  find  hoi  !" 

Here  is  disclosed  one  of  the  characteristic  life- 
forces  of  Christianity.  N'ot  in  any  ruling  idea,  l)ut 
in  the  Man  Christ  Jesus,  is  the  central  and  su- 
preme power  of  hunuui  l^rotherhood.  "And  I,  if  I 
be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  [will  be 
drawing]  all  men  unto  myself."^^  Drawing  men 
to  him,  Jesus  is  thereby  drawing  them  into  near- 
ness, communion,  association  with  one  another. 

Ethical  philosophy,  making  a  study  of  man  as 
man,  and  finding  in  him  under  all  conditions  one 
and  the  same  moral  nature,  tends  to  universalism. 
Stoicism,  for  example,  in  spirit  a  religion,  was. 
unlike  the  popular  pagan  religions,  neither  ethnic 
nor   national,   but   human.      Seneca,   speaking  of 

"'^John  xii.  32. 


As  Communion  and  Congregation         65 

mankind,  said :  "We  are  members  of  one  great 
body."  Epictetiis  commended  the  person  who 
justified  himself  for  ministering  kindly  to  a  ship- 
wrecked pirate  on  the  ground  that  he  had  hon- 
ored "not  the  man  but  humanity  in  his  person." 
It  would  be  hard  to  find  truer  ideas  of  human 
interrelations  than  such  as  these.  Yet  stoicism 
won  very  few  followers,  and  even  them  it  fur- 
nished with  but  a  one-sided  culture.  Its  great 
word  was:  "Trouble  not  thyself,  the  real  world  is 
within,  and  thou  canst  make  that  what  thou  wilt; 
external  things  touch  not  the  soul,  not  in  the 
least  degree" — 

In  the  fell  clutch  of  circumstance 
I  have  not  winced  nor  cried  aloud; 

Under  the  bludgeonings  of  chance 
My  head  is  bloody  but  unbowed. 

At  the  same  time,  if  the  "clutch  of  circum- 
stance" grew  too  severe,  one  might  freely  open  the 
door  of  self-murder  and  pass  out.  "If  the  room 
is  smoky,  let  us  leave  it,"  was  one  of  the  stoic's 
common  sayings. 

Stoicism,  notwithstanding  its  universalism,  sent 
forth  no  missionaries  with  hearts  of  love  and 
tongues  of  flame.  Because  it  lacked  just  that  which 
was  given  to  men  in  the  Christian  evangel;  even 
the  Divine  Man,  who  was  the  visible  wisdom,  peace, 
and  love  of  God,  interpreted  by  the  Spirit  within 
the  heart  to  those  who  receive  his  words.  Com- 
pare Marcus  Aurelius,  "wisest  of  emperors  and 
5 


66  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

holiest  of  pagan  men,"  meditating  in  his  tent  amid 
the  hardships  and  sickening  horrors  of  war,  with 
Saul  of  Tarsus  illuminated  by  the  revelation  in 
him  of  the  Son  of  God. 

A  common  attraction  to  Christ  was  able  to  bring 
men  together,  as  no  power  of  rite  or  creed  or  moral 
system,  nor  even  the  revelation  of  God  himself  in 
Israel,  had  ever  done,  in  communion  with  one  an- 
other. Here  is  that  Center  of  souls  whence  there 
went  forth  a  new  social  spirit  in  the  unloving  an- 
cient world.  Ten  thousand  times  has  it  failed, 
but  some  day  the  doing  of  its  perfect  work  will  be 
the  answer  to  the  interceding  Saviour's  prayer: 
"Holy  Father,  keep  them  in  thy  name  whom  thou 
hast  given  me,  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we 
are." 

VI 

Shall  we  venture  to  think  of  this  fellowship 
with  the  Saviour  from  the  divine  side?  Here  it  is 
shadowed  forth  as  a  unifying  love  that  passes  all 
limitation  and  all  knowledge.  The  Church  is 
loved  of  Christ  so  as  to  make  it  one  with  himself. 
"Come  hither,"  said  the  angel  of  the  Apocalypse, 
"I  will  show  thee  the  bride,  the  wife  of  the  Lamb." 
So  he  took  the  prophet-apostle  away  in  spirit  to  a 
mountain  exceeding  high  and  showed  him  the 
Church  of  the  redeemed — "the  holy  city  Jerusa- 
lem, coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God,  having 
the  glory  of  God,"  and  "made  ready  as  a  bride 


As  Oommicnioji  and  Congregation         67 

adorned  for  her  husband.'"'"'  Whatever,  either  of 
kindness  or  of  injury,  is  done  toward  a  bride 
has  the  bridegroom  equally  for  its  object;  from 
him  will  an  answer  come;  because  his  love  has 
made  them  one  together.  The  heavenly  Bride- 
groom ever  gives  answer  to  whatever  is  done  to- 
ward the  Bride.  "He  that  loveth  his  own  wife 
loveth  himself.  .  .  .  This  mystery  is  great; 
but  I  speak  in  regard  of  Christ  and  of  the 
Church."" 

This  has  been  spoken  of  as  a  metaphor  under 
which  "the  ideal  Church  and  its  relation  to 
Christ"  is  described.^*  But  surely  it  is  the  actual 
Church,  the  Christian  people,  however  imperfect 
and  unworthy,  and  not  an  ideal,  that  Christ  has 
loved  and  redeemed  and  thereby  united  in  the  one- 
ness of  love  unto  himself. 

All  through  his  own  teachings  does  our  Lord 
set  forth,  in  varied  forms  of  expression,  this  one- 
ness of  Christians  in  him.  When  he  sent  out 
the  apostles  the  first  time  to  preach  the  gospel  of 
the  kingdom,  it  was  his  word  to  them,  "He  that  re- 
ceiveth  you,  receiveth  me."^"  Setting  a  little  child 
in  the  midst  of  those  who  anxiously  inquired.  Who 
is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  he  said, 
"Whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child  in  my 

'^Rev.  xxi.  9,  10,  2.      ='Eph.  v.  28,  32. 
'"See    Hastings,    "Dictionary    of    the    Bible,"    Art. 
Church,  III. 
''Matt.  X.  40. 


68  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

name,  receiveth  me."*"  In  his  picture  of  the  gen- 
eral judgment,  he  declares  that  whatever  minis- 
tration is  either  done  or  neglected  toward  one  of 
the  least  of  his  "brethren"  is  done  or  neglected 
toward  himself.''^  When  Saul  of  Tarsus  had  "laid 
waste  the  Church,"  the  startling  question  of  Christ, 
appearing  in  glory,  was  one  concerning  himself, 
whom  Saul  had  never  seen :  "Saul,  Saul,  why  per- 
secutest  thou  me?"  "Who  art  thou.  Lord?"  "I 
am  Jesus,  tvhom  thou  persecutest."*^  To  touch 
the  Church,  whether  with  the  hand  of  good  will  or 
of  violence,  is  to  touch  the  Soul  of  its  soul,  the 
Life  of  its  life,  the  Christ  whose  love  has  made  it 
one  with  himself. 

Indeed,  love  to  Christ  is  not  an  initiative  but  a 
response.  "We  love,  because  he  first  loved  us."*^ 
The  Lover  of  the  soul  is  beforehand  with  it.  Alpha 
as  well  as  Omega,  first  as  well  as  last.  In  the  days 
of  his  flesh  he  sought  the  disciples,  sought  com- 
panionship with  them — "Ye  did  not  choose  me, 
but  I  chose  you."  He  is  the  same  in  glory,  yester- 
day, to-day,  forever;  and  the  bond  of  perfectness 
that  makes  his  multitudinous  Congregation  in  all 
the  world  one  together  in  him  is  no  mere  feeble 
response  of  theirs,  but  the  creative  and  redeeming 
love  wherewith  he  has  loved  them. 

«Matt.  xviii.  5.  "'Matt.  xxv.  35-42. 

"^Acts  viii.  3;  ix.  4,  5.      «1  John  iv.  19. 


IV 

AS  VISIBLE  AND  KECOGNIZABLE 

The  Church  is  a  visible  institution.  Whether 
it  be  viewed  from  the  divine  side,  as  the  kingdom 
of  God  embodied,  or  historically,  as  the  Old  and 
the  JSTew  Israel,  or  from  the  human  side,  as  the 
congregation  of  believers — men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren— in  Jesus  Christ,  one  of  its  characteristic 
marks  will  be  outwardness,  visibility.  It  consists 
not  of  isolated  but  of  associated  members.  It  is  a 
congregational  communion.  A  distinction  has 
been  drawn  in  modern  ecclesiology  between  the 
"visible"  and  the  "invisible"  Church.  The  two 
terms  represent  with  sufficient  clearness  two  great 
and  unquestionable  facts.  The  visible  Church  in- 
cludes the  Christians  on  earth  at  any  one  time, 
gathered  into  societies  for  worship  and  work;  the 
invisible  Church,  the  Christians  of  all  ages,  with- 
out reference  to  any  outward  association  or  gov- 
ernment.^    But  the  terminology  is   of  doubtful 

'The  distinction  is  recognized  and  defined  in  the 
"Westminster  Confession,"  Chap.  XXV.  "Luther  first 
used  the  term  'invisible.'  Zwingli  first  added  tlie 
term  'visible.'  .  .  .  Zwingli  was  the  only  one  among 
the  Reformers  who  included  the  elect  heathen  in  the 
invisible  Church."  (Schaff,  "History  of  the  Church," 
Vol.  VI.  525,  n. 

(69) 


70  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

value.  Is  not  that  of  the  New  Testament  better? 
Instead  of  "invisible  Church,"  let  us  say,  the 
"kingdom  of  Christ,"  and  instead  of  "visible 
Church,"  the  Church. 

Does  this  insistence  upon  visibility  seem  to  any 
one  as  too  external  or  unspiritual  an  idea?  Let 
him  ask  whether  an  individual  Christian  is  visible 
or  invisible.  May  a  man  become  and  continue  a 
disciple  of  Jesus  secretly?  It  is  certain  that  no 
such  discipleship  is  contemplated  in  the  iSTew  Tes- 
tament :  "Every  one  therefore  who  shall  confess  me 
before  men,  him  will  I  also  confess  before  my  Fa- 
ther who  is  in  heaven."-  A  "disciple,"  "brother," 
"believer,"  "saint,"  "Christian,"  any  one  of  "the 
Way,"^  is  one  who  not  only  believes  in  his  heart  but 
also  confesses  with  his  lips — and  with  his  life. 

But  a  Church  is  simply  a  congregation  of  these 
same  Christian  disciples.  What  its  members  are 
individually  the  Church  itself  is  collectively.  It 
is  therefore  a  confessing,  and  thus  an  outward, 
audible,  visible  body.  It  must  needs,  by  word  and 
action,  bear  witness  to  the  one  jSTame,  before  all 
the  world.  In  certain  circumstances  its  testimony 
may  excite  bitter  antagonism,  and  put  its  leaders 
and  other  members  in  peril  of  their  life.  The  per- 
secutor may  "lay  waste  the  Church"  for  its  con- 
fession of  faith.*  In  other  circumstances  the 
friendship  of  the  unregenerate  world  may  encom- 

-Matt.  X.  32.      ^Acts  ix.  2;  xxii.  4;  xix.  9;  xxiv.  14. 
^Acts  viii.  3. 


As  Visible  and  Recognizable  71 

pass  it  with  the  lure  of  still  greater  evils.  N"o 
matter:  amid  whatever  difficulties  and  dangers, 
Christ's  Ecelesia  is,  according  to  the  very  funda- 
mental laws  of  its  life,  a  visible  and  confessing 
brotherhood.    The  name  is  applicable  to  no  other.^ 

It  is  true  that  the  churches  of  the  apostolic 
age,  like  those  indeed  of  all  other  ages,  had  their 
private,  or  secret,  meetings.  Sometimes,  indeed, 
there  has  been  a  special  reason  for  the  closed  door, 
namely,  to  shut  out  enemies :  as,  for  example,  just 
after  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus,  'Vhen  the  doors 
were  shut  where  the  disciples  were,  for  fear  of  the 
Jews,"®  or  in  the  days  of  "the  hidden  seed"  of  the 
Moravian  Church,  or  the  days  of  English  Non- 
conforming Christians  under  the  Conventicle  Act 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Here,  however,  was 
no  organized  secretiveness :  like  that,  for  instance, 
of  the  Eleusinian  Mystery,  or  of  any  other  secret 
society,  ancient  or  modern.  It  was  the  simple 
avoidance  of  needless  self-sacrifice.  It  was  the 
covering  of  the  light  of  truth  from  the  violence  of 
a  passing  storm,  that  it  might  escape  destruction 
and  soon  shine  forth  with  increasing  power. 

But  there  is  no  record  in  the  New  Testament  of 
even  this  exercise  of  Christian  prudence,  after  the 
Day  of  Pentecost. 

Let  us  take  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  as 
offering  the  most  instructive  account  of  church 

"Cf.  Litton,  "The  Church  of  Christ,"  p.  63. 
"John  XX.  19. 


72  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

meetings  during  the  New  Testament  period.  It 
would  seem  from  tlie  picture  here  drawn  or  sug- 
gested that  there  were  three  different  types  of 
them,  kept  more  or  less  separate  from  one  another, 
two  of  which  were  for  the  Christians  only  and  the 
third  for  whoever  might  be  pleased  to  attend. 
There  were  meetings  for  the  administration  of 
discipline/  for  the  election  of  messengers  to  sister 
churches,*  for  the  giving  of  letters  of  commenda- 
tion,® or  for  sending  letters  of  inquiry  i^"  these,  be- 
ing business  meetings,  may  be  supposed,  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  to  have  sat  with  closed  doors." 

There  were  also  social  meetings,  for  the  observ- 
ance at  a  common  table  of  a  love  feast  and  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  which  likewise  must  have  been 
family  gatherings  of  the  Church,  with  no  outsiders 
in  attendance.^-  It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  in  the 
post-apostolic  days  not  even  catechumens  were 
permitted,  wether  rightly  or  wrongly,  to  be  pres- 
ent at  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

But  in  addition  to  these  there  were  meetings  for 
prayer  and  song  and  Christian  testimony,  at  which 
unbelievers  were  welcome.  Here,  in  exhortation 
and  prophecy,  the  evangelistic  note  was  struck, 
and  the  unsaved  won  to  Christian  discipleship : 
"If  all  prophesy,  and  there  come  in  one  unbeliev- 

n  Cor.  vi.  1-5.  *2  Cor.  viii.  19,  23. 

^2  Cor.  iii.  1 ;  xvi.  3.     '"1  Cor.  vii.  1. 
"As  also  meetings  for  the  election  of  oflBcers:  Acts 
vi.  5.      '=1  Cor.  xi.  20-24. 


As  Visible  and  Mecognizahle  73 

ing  or  milearned,  he  is  reproved  by  all,  he  is  judged 
by  all ;  the  secrets  of  his  heart  are  made  manifest ; 
and  so  he  will  fall  down  on  his  face  and  worship 
God,  declaring  that  God  is  among  you  indeed."^^ 

The  unbelieving  and  the  unlearned — what  two 
classes  of  persons  are  here  referred  to?  The  un- 
believing (aTTto-Tot)  were  doubtless  pagans  (or,  in 
some  instances,  Jews)  who  had  not  yet  been  won 
to  even  a  theoretical  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  The 
unlearned  (tSiwrai)  were  apparently  adherents  of 
the  congregation,  interested,  open-minded  to  the 
truth,  but  not  yet  received  through  baptism  into 
the  Christian  brotherhood.  "If  therefore  the  whole 
church  be  assembled  together,  ,  .  .  and  there 
come  in  men"  of  either  of  these  two  classes,  they 
are  more  than  welcome,  and  must  be  reached  by 
the  Avord  of  preaching.  Let  them  fall  down  be- 
fore the  lightning  stroke  of  heavenly  truth  and 
acknowledge  that  their  secret  sins  and  their  im- 
perative need  of  a  Saviour  have  been  disclosed  as 
never  before,  and  that  the  mighty  God  is  indeed 
present  in  this  little  assemblage  of  his  children. 

Not  only,  then,  was  there  the  single  apostle  or 
evangelist,  in  the  synagogue  and  elsewhere,  speak- 
ing the  word  of  life  to  all  the  people;  and  not  only 
did  the  private  Christian  in  his  daily  life  endeavor 
to  win  others  to  his  Lord;  but  there  was  a  public 
worship  and  preacliing  in  the  assembled  church 

'n  Cor.  xiv.  23-25. 


74  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

itself.  With  the  door  open  to  whoever  might  have 
ears  to  hear,  the  prayer  and  praise  and  evangelistic 
appeal  of  the  Church  of  God,  which  was  at  Corinth, 
were  uttered.  And  this  church  may  be  taken  as  a 
typical  rather  than  an  isolated  instance.^* 

The  idea  of  a  church  as  other  than  a  Christian 
congregation,  witness-bearing  and  therefore  visi- 
ble, is  not  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament  writ- 
ings. 

I 

Nevertheless  there  was  no  consolidation  of  the 
various  congregations,  by  apostolic  authority,  un- 
der a  single  governing  body.  So  far  as  we  have 
any  evidence,  none  of  them  were  ever  thus  united. 
The  government  was  that  of  independent  congre- 
gations, like  the  government  of  the  Jewish  syna- 
gogues, with  the  added  supervision  of  the  apostles 
and  their  fellow  itinerant  ministers. 

Upon  this  apostolic  supervision  of  the  first 
Christian  churches,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  linger 
a  moment.  It  is  best  illustrated  in  the  apostolate 
of  Paul,  and  nowhere  else  so  vividly  as  in  his  re- 

'^"The  meeting  described  by  the  Apostle  is  not  to 
be  taken  as  something  which  might  be  seen  at  Corinth 
but  peculiar  to  that  city;  it  may  be  taken  as  a  type 
of  the  Christian  meeting  throughout  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tian Churches;  for  the  Apostle,  in  his  suggestions  and 
criticisms,  continually  speaks  of  what  took  place 
throughout  all  the  Churches.  1  Cor.  xiv.  33;  xi.  16." 
(Lindsay,  "Church  and  Ministry  in  the  Early  Centu- 
ries," p.  48.) 


As  Visible  and  Recognizable  75 

lation  to  the  church  in  Ephesus^^  and  in  Corinth.^" 
What  was  its  character  and  significance?  Not 
that  of  an  authoritative  lawmaker  and  ruler.  Of 
an  official  authority  received  immediately  from 
Christ  to  organize  and  rule  the  churches  that 
would  arise  through  their  witness  to  the  risen 
Christ,  the  apostles  do  not  show  any  sign.  In 
neither  narrative  nor  epistle  does  it  appear.  Their 
sujicrvision  was  that  of  the  missionary  pastor.  It 
was  the  prototype  of  a  ministerial  guidance  and 
government  such  as  might  well  appear  in  any  for- 
eign mission  field  of  to-day.  Suppose  the  mis- 
sionary evangelist,  for  example,  to  have  gathered 
out  of  some  pagan  population  one  or  more  congre- 
gations of  beginners  in  the  Christian  life.  He  will 
not  leave  these  embrj^o  churches  to  themselves. 
He  will  not  turn  them  over  at  once  to  self-govern- 
ment. He  will  both  continue  to  teach  and  exhort, 
and  in  many  things  will  direct,  superintend,  and 
govern ;  and  they,  as  his  •  grateful  but  crude  and 
untrained  children  in  the  gospel,  will  gladly  have 
it  so.  Meanwhile  it  will  be  his  endeavor  to  ren- 
der them,  as  rapidly  as  possible,  independent  of 
his  oversight  and  control.  Such  missionary  pas- 
tors were  Paul  and  his  brother  apostles  of  Christ. ^^ 

"Acts  XX.  17-38;  1  Tim.,  passim. 

"Acts  xix.;  1  and  2  Coi'.,  passim. 

"Hort,  "The  Christian  Ecclesia,"  pp.  84,  85;  Lind- 
say, "Church  and  Ministry  in  the  Early  Centuries," 
p.  144. 


76  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  second  century 
the  same  general  order  prevailed:  self-governing 
congregations,  each  with  its  own  local  ministry, 
and  in  addition  an  "irregular"  itinerant  ministry 
of  prophets  and  teachers. 

Whatever  visibility  may  imply,  it  was  not  an- 
ciently seen  to  imply  the  combination  of  all  local 
congregations,  or  even  of  any  two  of  them,  in  or- 
ganic union.  Nor  does  it  imply  such  intercongre- 
gational  government  in  our  own  age — or  in  any 
other.  However  desirable,  however  obligatory, 
this  form  of  government  may  be,  at  any  time,  it  is 
far  from  being  essential  to  ecclesiastic  visibility. 
As  well  might  it  be  held  that  the  visibility  of  a 
family  implies  the  organic  union  of  all,  or  at  least 
some,  of  the  families  of  the  world. 

It  was  toward  the  close  of  the  second  century 
and  during  the  next  that  the  Catholic  Church  took 
form  and  appeared.  What  was  the  Catholic 
Church?  Xot  an  organization;  for  there  was  no 
supreme  legislature  or  general  executive  officer. 
The  center  of  unity  for  the  local  congregation 
(which  by  this  time  indeed  had  in  some  instances 
developed  a  few  dependent  congregations,  fore- 
shadowing the  later  "diocese")  was  the  bishop; 
and  the  bishops,  together  with  other  representa- 
tives, in  interchurch  advisory  councils,  constituted 
a  bond  of  unity.  Besides  this,  there  were  other 
uniting  forces.  One  was  a  common  doctrinal  be- 
lief, as  represented  in  the  baptismal  formula,  now 


As  Visible  and  Recognizahle  77 

enlarging  into  the  "Apostles'  Creed."  Another 
was  a  common  recognition  of  the  inspiration  and 
authority  of  the  sacred  writings  that  were  gradual- 
ly crystallizing  into  the  N'ew  Testament  canon. 
All  these  cooperating  forces — l)ishops,  councils, 
creed,  Scriptures — together  with  that  wide-ex- 
tended friendship  of  Christian  with  Christian, 
kept  up  through  travel  and  letter-writing,  that 
existed  from  the  beginning  of  the  gospel,  were 
constructing,  under  the  creative  hand,  as  we  must 
believe,  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  "that  superb  and 
world-subduing  organization  which  we  know  as 
the  Catholic  Church."^^  Yet,  having  no  common 
government,  either  legislative  or  executive,  it  was 
not,  properly  speaking,  an  "organization."  It  was 
rather  a  very  real  though  informal  federation :  the 
totality  of  Christian  Churches  in  Asia,  Europe, 
Africa,  associated  {hrough  councils,  creed,  Scrip- 
tures, correspondence,  "letters  of  communion,"  and 
visitations,  in  more  or  less  intimate  fellowship  and 
cooperation  one  with  another. 

All  movements  toward  a  universal  or  national 
or  denominational  organic  form  of  ecclesiastical 
unity,  whether  permissible  and  praiseworthy  or 
otherwise,  are  of  later  origin. 

There  came  a  time,  indeed,  in  the  history  of 
Western    Christianity,   when   the   minds   of   men 

"Moore,  "The  New  Testament  in  the  Christian 
Church,"  pp.  169,  170. 


78  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

seemed  unable  to  grasp  the  idea  of  Christian  unity 
save  as  represented  b}'  one  great  visible  personal 
Authority. ^^  But  it  was  a  simpler  and  grander 
vision  that  thrilled  the  heart  of  the  early  Church : 
All  Christians,  be  they  few  or  many,  in  whatever 
condition,  in  whatever  land,  in  whatever  age,  are 
one  indivisible  brotherhood  in  Christ ;  and  the 
congregations  of  this  communion  of  saints,  wheth- 
er connected  organically  or  not,  and  whether  close- 
ly federated  or  not,  are  the  Catholic  Church. 
Whence  the  vision  came  we  know :  that  it  will 
shine  clearer  and  brighter,  after  its  long,  sad  cen- 
turies of  obscuration,  we  may  steadfastly  believe. 

II 

As  to  the  number  of  persons  necessary  to  con- 
stitute a  church,  an  answer  may  be  found  in  Je- 
sus' own  words,  "Where  two  or  three  ai-e  gathered 
together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of 
them."  Nor  need  tliis  little  gathering  be  the  only 
one,  or  the  chief,  of  such  assemblies,  in  the  com- 
munity. People  may  be  regularly  gathered  to- 
gether in  Jesus'  name,  here  and  there,  in  the  city 
or  even  in  the  rural  neighborhood,  with  no  restric- 
tion on  the  number  of  assemblies,  except  those  very 
powerful  restrictions  imposed  by  good  judgment 
and  the  spirit  of  fellowship  and  brotherly  coopera- 
tion in  Christ  the  one  Lord. 

'"Bryce,  "The  Holy  Roman  Empire,"  Chap.  VII. 


As  Visible  and  Recognizable  79 

Is  not  this  indicated  in  the  references  of  the 
apostolic  epistles  to  house  churches?  "Greet  the 
church,"  says  Paul  to  the  Eomans,  "that  is  in  their 
[Priscilla  and  Aquila's]  house."-"  So  in  other 
passages :  "Salute  .  .  .  jSTymphas,  and  the  church 
which  is  in  his  house"  ;^^  "Paul  ...  to  Phile- 
mon .  .  .  and  to  the  church  in  thy  house."^^ 
It  seems  evident  that  the  groups  or  assemblies  of 
believers,  to  whom  these  epistolary  greetings  are 
sent,  were  not  the  whole  church  in  Eome  or  La- 
odicea  or  Colosse  to  which  the  epistles  themselves 
are  addressed.  They  were  little  companies  that 
met  together  in  the  houses  of  certain  Christian 
people,  who,  like  the  man  bearing  the  pitcher  of 
water,  to  whom  Jesus  directed  Peter  and  John, 
might  have  "a  large  upper  room  furnished"  in 
Avhich  Christian  disciples  were  invited  to  meet,  and 
the  unseen  Master  in  the  midst  of  them.  But 
these,  too,  are  called  by  the  very  name  that  Jesus 
used  when  he  declared,  "I  will  build  my  Ecclesia." 
They,  as  well  as  the  whole  body  of  the  faithful  in 
their  respective  cities,  are  "churches.'"^^ 

In  fact,  even  the  principal  assemblage  (if  there 
was  one)  in  a  city  must  also  have  met  in  some  pri- 
vate house ;  for  there  could  hardly  have  been  any 

="'Rom.  xvi.  5.      "Col.  iv.  15. 

2^'Philemon  1,  2.  Cf.  Acts  xii.  12;  Rom.  xvi.  14,  15; 
1  Cor.  xvi.  19. 

^'Hastings,  "Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  Art.  Church 
(C). 


80  The  Idea  of  the  C'Jiurch 

other  meeting  place,  ordinarily  at  least,  at  its  dis- 
posal. Not  until  about  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century  do  Christian  houses  of  worship  appear.-* 
Prior  to  this  time,  all  churches,  with  here  and 
there  an  exception,-^  must  have  been  house  church- 
es. Even  the  congregation  of  Cyprian,  the  power- 
ful bishop  of  Carthage,  in  the  middle  of  the  third 
century,  had  no  church  edifice  in  which  to  wor- 
ship. 

The  idea  of  a  church  in  a  dwelling  house,  though 
somewhat  strange  no  doubt  to  most  minds  in  our 
day,  is  not  unfamiliar  to  others.  In  many  a  rural 
community  of  our  own  land  sermons  have  been 
regularly  preached,  souls  saved,  congregations 
gathered  and  organized,  prayer  meetings  held,  sac- 
raments administered,  in  the  homes  of  the  people. 
Indeed,  the  house  congregation  has  had  a  goodly 
history.  It  dates  back  to  the  tent  of  the  Hebrew 
patriarchs.-*'  Its  appearance  in  the  early  days  of 
Christianity  was  so   simple   and   inevitable  as  to 

'^The  first  known  reference  to  church  edifices  is 
said  by  patristic  scholars  to  be  found  in  the  following 
passages  in  the  Stromata  of  Clement  of  Alexandria 
(d.  220  c):  "And  if  sacred  (ro  kpov')  has  a  twofold 
application,  designating  both  God  himself  and  the 
structure  raised  to  Ms  honor.  .  .  .  For  it  is  not 
now  the  place  but  the  assemblage  of  the  elect  that  I 
call  the  Church.  This  temple  is  better  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  greatness  of  the  dignity  of  God."  (Bk. 
VII.,  c.  5.) 

'''Acts  xix.  9.      =«Gen.  xii.  8;  xviii.  19. 


As  Visible  and  Recognizable  81 

need  no  explanation.  We  see  our  Lord  teaching 
the  assembled  people  in  private  houses,^^  and  eat- 
ing the  Passover  with  the  Twelve  in  the  guest 
chamber  a  friend  had  offered  him.^^  After  the  As- 
cension, the  Eleven  and  other  disciples  assemble  in 
"the  upper  chamber"  (was  it  the  same  as  that  in 
which  they  had  eaten  the  Last  Supper  with  their 
Lord?)  for  united  prayer ;^^  and  it  was  here,  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  that  the  tongues  of  fire  de- 
scended upon  them — Pentecost,  marking  the  birth- 
day of  the  Church  of  the  New  Covenant,  came  to 
the  circle  of  prayer  in  the  upper  room.  The  Pen- 
tecostal converts  not  only  continue  with  one  ac- 
cord in  the  Temple,  but  meet  for  worship  "at 
home,"  breaking  bread  in  communion  with  their 
ever-present  Lord  and  with  one  another."*^  Simon 
Peter,  delivered  from  prison,  makes  his  way  to  the 
house  of  Mary,  the  mother  of  John  Mark,  "where 
many  were  gathered  together  and  were  praying."^ ^ 
It  was  in  an  upper  chamber  in  Troas  that  the  little 
company  of  Christians  were  met  together  "to 
break  bread,"  Avhen  "Paul  discoursed  with  them," 
and  prolonged  his  speech  until  midnight.'^  Thus 
it  came  most  naturally  to  pass  that  the  churches 
were  housed  in  the  homes  of  the  believing  people, 
and  so  continued  for  several  generations. 

It  is  the  effort  of  Christian  scholarship  to  see 

"Mark  ii.  1,  2.     -"^Luke  xxii.  11-13.     ='Acts  i.  13,  14. 
*>Acts  ii.  46.  ''Acts  xii.  12.  ==Acts  xx.  7. 

6 


82  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

them,  both  externally  and  internally,  at  least  in 
some  good  measure,  as  they  were — not  as  perhaps 
it  is  fancied  they  may  or  must  have  been. 

Ill 

It  is  impossible,  in  this  connection,  to  avoid  the 
question.  How  may  a  church  be  recognized  as  such  ? 
what  are  the  notes  of  an  ecclesia  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  word  is  here  to 
be  used  in  the  New  Testament  sense — if  this  can 
be  ascertained.  Any  other  use  of  it  would  be  arbi- 
trary and  confusing.  Therefore,  whatever  effort 
is  necessary  must  be  made,  to  rid  one's  mind  of 
any  merely  denominational  or  post-scriptural  asso- 
ciations which  may  now  attach  to  the  word. 

(1)  First,  then,  as  to  creed.  A  church  is  a  con- 
gregation of  believers  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ,  the 
Divine  Saviour  and  Lord.  "Upon  this  rock  I  will 
build  my  Church." 

Now  any  great  spiritual  truth,  or  even  the  be- 
liever in  it,  might  fittingly  be  called  a  rock  to 
build  upon.  Belief  in  the  one  true  and  living  God, 
or,  to  use  again  the  concrete  term,  the  believer  in 
him,  might  be  expressed  in  this  same  strong  meta- 
phor. But  it  was  not  upon  such  beliefs,  nor  upon 
such  believers,  that  Jesus  would  build  his  ecclesia. 
The  question  which  he  had  just  asked  the  Twelve 
was  concerning  a  human  person,  even  concerning 
the  Speaker  himself:  ''Who  do  men  say  that  the 
Son  of  Man  is?"  The  answer  was,  "John  the  Bap- 


As  Visible  and  Jtecognizohle  88 

tist,  .  .  .  Elijah,  .  .  .  Jeremiah,  ,  .  .  one  of 
the  prophets,"  None  said,  The  Messiah.  "But 
who  saA'  ye  that  I  am?"  And  it  was  when  Peter 
replied,  notwithstanding  the  general  unbelief, 
"Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God," 
that  Jesus  declared  that  here  was  a  very  founda- 
tion stone  of  his  household  of  faith."^  It  must  be 
Christ-confessing  disciples  that  constitute  the 
Congregation  of  the  Christ. 

What  did  Simon  Peter  mean  by  this  confession  ? 
It  cannot  be  forgotten  that,  notwithstanding  the 
revelation  he  had  received  from  the  Father  in 
heaven,  this  first  of  the  apostles  knew  very  poorly 
the  significance  of  the  holy  name  which  he  spoke. 
What  was  the  Christ  ?  He  was  not  recognized  even 
in  this  great  confession  as  the  Man  of  Calvary, 
who  should  suffer  unto  death  for  the  sin  of  the 
world,  and  be  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with 
power  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead.  "Be  it 
far  from  thee.  Lord:  this  shall  never  be  unto 
thee."^*  But  the  larger  faith  lay  potentially  in 
the  faith  that  Peter  had  confessed.  He  was  ready 
to  receive  from  the  Father  of  Jesus  the  completer 
revelation  of  the  cross  and  the  resurrection,  when 
these  should  be  given.  He  did  both  receive  it  and 
proclaim  it  with  power  to  others :  "This  Jesus  did 
God  raise  up,  whereof  we  are  all  witnesses.  .  .  . 
Let  all  the  house  of  Israel  therefore  know  assured- 

»»Matt.  xvi.  13-18.        "Matt.  xvi.  22. 


84  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

ly  that  God  hath  made  him  both  Lord  and  Christ, 
this  Jesus  whom  3^e  crucified,''^^  That  was  Peter's 
confession  of  the  Christ. 

That  it  was  equally  the  common  confession  of 
the  churches  which  forthwith  began  to  be  gath- 
ered, in  various  places,  is  indisputable.  It  would 
seem  to  be  impossible,  with  an  open  New  Testa- 
ment in  one's  hand,  to  conceive  of  the  first  Chris- 
tians following  the  crucified  Jesus  as  merely  a 
teacher  and  saint,  even  though  wisest  and  saint- 
liest  of  all,  or  as  one  who  had  died  and,  like  other 
men,  was  still  lying  in  his  grave.  Trusting  in  his 
name  for  the  remission  of  sins,  they  confessed  him 
as  their  risen  Saviour  and  Lord. 

Not  less  than  this,  then,  may  be  taken  as  the 
eredal  contents  of  the  word,  when  Jesus  or  the 
apostles  speak  of  the  "churches,"  or  of  the 
"Church." 

(2)  As  to  spiritual  life.  There  must  be  the  be- 
ginnings of  personal  salvation.  Not  perfection  of 
Christian  character,  nor  the  full  assurance  of 
faith — far  from  it.  That  would  be  to  refuse  a 
child  admission  into  the  home,  because  it  had  not 
reached  the  stature  of  manhood.  "Him  that  is 
weak  in  faith  receive."^®  But  through  repentance 
and  faith  toward  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  new 
life  must  have  begun. 

This  will  be  evident,   when  it   is  remembered 

^Acts  ii.  32,  36.  =«Rom.  xiv.  1. 


As  Visible  and  Recognizahle  85 

that  a  church  is,  first  of  all,  not  an  organization 
nor  even  a  congregation,  but  a  Christian  com- 
munion, and  that  such  a  communion  is  impossible 
without  something  of  the  inner  Christian  life  in 
all  who  enter  it.  Only  those  who  have  in  common 
can  commune.  Here  is  the  principle  of  "a  regen- 
erate church  membership." 

Accordingly  we  read  that  "the  Lord  added  to 
them  day  by  day  those  that  were  being  saved/'^'' 
True,  all  who  were  numbered  with  the  confessing 
brotherhood  were  not  of  this  genuine  type.  No 
less  truly  of  the  new  theocracy  than  of  the  old 
might  it  have  been  said,  "All  are  not  Israel  who 
are  of  Israel."  Even  under  the  ministry  of  the 
apostles,  a  Simon  Magus  was  received  into  church 
membership,  and  soon  afterwards  shown  to  have 
"neither  lot  nor  part  in  this  matter."^^  "They 
went  out  from  us,"  says  the  Apostle  John  concern- 
ing the  antichrists,  "because  they  were  not  of 
^gj"39  "jTalse  brethren,"*"  the  Apostle  calls  cer- 
tain intriguing  church  members  of  his  day.  "Thou 
hast  a  name  that  thou  livest,  and  thou  art  dead," 
was  the  word  of  the  Lord  to  church  members  in 
Sardis.  These,  not  being  of  the  Church,  were  never 
in  any  vital  sense  in  it — like  the  lifeless  branch, 
which  is  only  mechanically  connected  with  the  tree, 
or  like  the  unqualified  and  idle  matriculate,  who  is 
only  a  nominal  part  of  the  student  body.     Were 

"Acts  ii.  47.  ^Acts  viii.  18-23. 

»»1  John  ii.  19.     *'2  Cor.  xi.  26;  Gal.  ii.  4. 


86  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Cliurch. 

none  such  as  they,  cliurcli  nicniber  and  Christian 
would  be  convertible  terms ;  "were  all  such  as  they, 
there  would  be  no  Church. 

(3)  As  to  .ordinances.  There  must  be  the  min- 
istration of  the  gospel,  baptism,  and  the  Lord's 
Supper.  It  is  through  the  ministration  of  the 
gospel — not  indeed  necessarily  in  the  primitive 
time  by  an  apostle,  nor  in  any  time  by  a  formally 
appointed  minister,  but  by  M'hoever  may  speak  a 
word  of  true  Christian  testimony — that  a  church 
is  gathered,  instructed,  and  sanctified.*^  It  is  by 
baptism,  the  visible  sign  of  regeneration,  that  the 
believer  in  Christ  makes  his  confession  of  faith 
and  enters  into  the  outward  fellowship  of  his 
brother  believers.*^  It  is  in  the  Lord's  Supper  that 
Jesus  brings  to  Christians'  remembrance,  under 
symbols  of  his  own  choosing,  his  sacrificial  suifer- 
ings  and  death,  and  offers  himself  as  the  Living 
Bread  of  the  soul.'*^ 

These  all  are  institutes  of  Jesus ;  and  the  New 
Testament  knows  no  church  without  them. 

But  if  the  question  bo  asked,  whether  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  are  necessary  to  the  Chris- 
tian life  in  the  same  sense  as  the  gospel  itself  and 

"Mark  xvi.  15;  Acts  ii.  41;  Rom.  x.  14;  Eph.  v.  26; 
Col.  iii.  16;  James  i.  21. 

*='Matt.  xxviii.  19,  20;  Acts  ii.  41;  viii.  12,  36;  ix. 
18;  Rom.  vi.  3;  1  Cor.  xii.  13;  Gal.  iii.  27f. 

^Matt.  xxvi.  26-29  (with  parallel  passages) ;  Acts 
ii.  46;  1  Cor.  xi.  20-29. 


^6'  Visible  and  liecognizahle  87 

the  faith  of  the  heart  in  Jesus  Christ  as  Saviour 
and  Lord,  the  answer  must  be,  that  they  are  not. 
No  outward  sign  is  necessary  in  the  same  sense  as 
the  inner  reality.  One  may  easily  imagine  the 
case  of  a  company  of  true  Christian  believers  in 
circumstances  where  the  sacraments  of  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  are  not  available.  Suppose 
them,  for  instance,  to  be  Baptists  in  belief,  unable 
to  accept  anv  mode  of  baptism  except  immersion 
as  valid,  and  so  situated  that  the  administration 
of  the  ordinance  in  this  form  is  impracticable ;  or 
suppose  them  to  be  the  unbaptized  converts  of  the 
early  Methodist  evangelists,  brought  into  "United 
Societies"  in  which  the  Lord's  Supper  was  not  ad- 
ministered; or  suppose  them  to  be  Friends,  con- 
scientiously walking  in  the  light  of  Christ,  as  they 
are  able  to  receive  it,  but  believing  the  sacraments 
to  have  been  intended  only  for  the  age  in  which 
they  were  given,  while  the  Spirit's  baptism  and  the 
spiritual  participation  in  the  Lord's  Supper  are 
the  only  perpetual  baptism  and  Lord's  Supper  in 
this  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  Are  these,  then, 
to  be  denied  the  Christian  name?  Few,  if  any, 
believers  in  the  Jesus  of  the  Evangelists,  the  Christ 
of  the  Bible,  would  say  so. 

But  shall  they  be  known  by  the  Church  name? 
Adhering  to  the  New  Testament  use  of  the  term, 
we  shall  have  to  answer  this  question  negatively. 
But  this,  too,  may  be  said:  The  New  Testament 
gives  no  evidence  of  having  any  such  cases  in 


88  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

mind;  and  one  ma}^  surely  believe  that  according 
to  its  spirit,  though  not  according  to  the  letter, 
these  congregated  followers  of  Jesus  Christ  are 
also  his  churches.  Undoubtedly  a  willful  rejection 
of  any  ordinance  of  Christ  would  involve  the  re- 
linquishment, on  the  part  of  a  religious  body,  of 
the  title  of  church;  but  it  would  equally  involve 
the  relinquishment,  on  the  part  of  an  individual, 
of  the  title  of  Christian, 

IV 

A  question  may  arise  as  to  how  serious  must  be 
the  errors  in  the  creed  or  observances  of  a  reli- 
gious denomination  or  a  local  religious  society  to 
preclude  its  right  to  be  called  a  church  of  Christ. 
Or,  to  take  a  particular  case,  here  is  a  congrega- 
tion of  the  followers  of  Eome.  They  profess  the 
dogmas  of  satisfaction  for  sin  by  good  works,  bap- 
tismal regeneration,  priestly  absolution,  mariolatry, 
papal  infallibility,  transubstantiation.  To  them 
the  Church  is  a  self-perpetuated,  ruling  hierarchy, 
performing  ceaseless  miracles  of  salvation  at  the 
font  and  the  altar,  and  so  imparting  the  grace  of 
God,  through  certain  prescribed  forms,  that  those 
who  come  within  the  ecclesiastic  inclosure  and 
those  only  are  made  Christians.  Shall  their  strange 
priestly  organization  be  called  a  church  because  of 
what  Christian  truth  they  do  hold  and  what  Chris- 
tian character  and  experience  they  represent,  or 


^^>'  Visible  and  Recognizable  89 

shall  they  be  denied  such  a  title  because  of  funda- 
mental errors? 

It  is  necessary  here  to  recur  to  the  distinction 
between  church  and  ecclesiastical  organization.  In 
the  New  Testament,  not  only  is  no  particular  form 
of  organization  set  forth  as  essential  to  the  exist- 
ence of  a  church,  but  organization  itself  is  not  set 
forth  as  thus  essential ;  unless  indeed  it  be  that 
purely  charismatic  type  of  organization  in  which 
God-given  gifts  are  used  by  their  possessor  for  the 
common  good,  and  so  recognized  by  the  Christian 
assembly.'*'*  A  church  is  essentially  a  congrega- 
tion only,  not  a  formal  organization.  It  is  a  visi- 
ble fellowship  of  believers  in  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Divine  Teacher,  Saviour,  and  Lord.  Given  such  a 
fellowship,  and — whatever  forms  of  government 
may  soon  appear  to  be  practically  necessary — 
nothing  else  is  essential  to  the  Christian  Church 
idea. 

It  is  in  explanation  of  his  announcement  of  the 
highest  possible  powers  as  belonging  to  an  ecclesia 
— those,  namely,  of  so  judging  as  to  have  their 
Judgment  ratified  in  heaven  and  of  so  uniting  in 
prayer  as  to  receive  whatever  they  ask — that  Jesus 
declares,  ''Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  to- 
gether in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of 
them,"*^  Gathered  together  in  Jesus'  name,  and 
Jesus  himself  in  the  midst — it  is  that,  without  re- 

"1  Cor.  xiv.       "'Matt,  xviii.  20. 


90  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

speet  to  any  legal  organization,  that  constitutes  an 
ecclesia  of  the  New  Covenant.  Organization  must, 
indeed,  make  a  church  stronger  and  more  efficient, 
but  is  not  needed  to  make  it  a  church.  However 
necessary  to  the  well-being,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
the  being  (esse)  of  the  Christian  congregation. 

Therefore,  when  inquiry  is  made  concerning  any 
denominational  organization,  be  it  sacerdotal  or 
evangelical,  historic  or  modern.  Is  this,  according 
to  the  New  Testament  idea,  a  church? — the  an- 
swer must  be,  So  far  as  the  society  in  question  is  a 
denominational,  or  legal,  organization,  the  New 
Testament  knows  nothing  about  it,  one  way  or  the 
other.  But  so  far  as  it  embraces,  within  the  limits 
designated  by  its  legal  title,  people  who  meet  to- 
gether, even  though  it  be  in  companies  of  only 
two  or  three,  for  fellowship  in  Jesus  Christ,  it  rep- 
resents a  number  of  local  churches.  And  when  all 
these  are  held  together  in  the  mind,  they  are  seen 
to  make  up  one  larger  church;  just  as  when  all 
such  groups  in  all  ecclesiastical  denominations  are 
thus  collectively  considered,  they  make  up  the  uni- 
versal Church  as  it  exists  in  the  world  to-day.  This 
present  and  world-wide  Ecclesia  is  the  ideally 
united  congregations  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Such  an  answer,  I  am  well  aware,  will  be  re- 
garded by  some  readers  as  more  nebulous  than 
clear-cut.  Complaint  will  be  offered  that  it  does 
not  state  in  precise  terms  how  much  imperfection, 
either  in  the  wa}^  of  excess  or  defect,  in  creed,  ob- 


As  Visible  and  Recognizable  91 

servanees,  or  conduct,  shall  be  taken  as  necessary 
to  exclude  a  company  of  professed  disciples  of 
Christ  from  the  right  to  the  New  Testament  title 
of  a  church."  The  same  objection,  however,  would 
lie  against  the  attempt  to  decide  concerning  each 
individual  church  member  whether  he  be  a  Chris- 
tian or  not.  What  is  it,  according  to  the  teaching 
of  the  gospel,  to  be  a  Christian?  A  satisfactory 
answer  may  at  once  arise  to  one's  lips ;  but  when  it 
is  asked,  in  certain  particular  cases.  Is  this  or  that 
man  a  Christian? — no  one  need  feel  ashamed  to 
acknowledge  hesitation  or  ignorance.  As  with 
the  Christians  of  the  churches,  so  with  the  church- 
es of  the  Christians.  The  general  principle  of  dis- 
crimination is  plain  enough,  but  the  application 
of  it  to  every  case  that  may  arise — such  knowledge 
is  high,  we  cannot  attain  unto  it. 

"Howbeit  the  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure, 
having  this  seal,  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are 
his;  and,  Let  every  one  that  nameth  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  depart  from  unrighteousness."*'^ 

May  this  word  of  mingled  confession  and  criti- 
cism be  permitted?  Men  think  too  meanly  of 
themselves;  and  the  result  is  personal  pride.  Un- 
appreciative  of  those  common  powers  and  possi- 
bilities in  which  their  real  greatness  consists,  the 
very  image  of  God  himself  on  the  soul,  they  glorify 

'"Cf.  Ladd,  "Principles  of  Church  Polity,"  p.  12. 
*'-2  Tim.  ii.  19. 


92  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

some  accident  of  personal  appearance  or  social 
position,  or  some  gift  of  intellect,  that  differences 
them  from  other  people,  as  if  to  find  their  very  self 
in  that.  After  a  similar  manner.  Christian  minis- 
ters and  people  are  prone  to  think  too  meanly  of 
their  churches;  and  the  result  is  church  pride. 
Unmindful  of  the  supreme  greatness  of  the  one 
Congregation  of  the  God  and  Father  of  Jesus 
Christ,  whose  names  are  written  in  heaven,  and 
overestimating  denominational  peculiarities,  they 
are  ready  to  profess,  "The  Covenant  people  are 
we,"  and  to  despise  others.  It  is  a  deep  degrada- 
tion when  arrogance  usurps  the  seat  of  love. 


II 

FORMS  AND  RELATIONS 


"Unchanging  principle  as  the  spirit,  but  a  certain 
body  of  forms  which  it  may  be  principle  or  expe- 
diency either  to  break  or  to  keep, — such  is  the  rela- 
tion of  spirit  and  form  in  the  true  Church  polity." — 
George  T.  Ladcl. 

"It  is  not  religion  to  employ  force  in  i-eligion." — 
Tertullian. 

"To  know 
Both  spiritual  power  and  civil,  what  each  means. 
What  severs  each,  thou  hast  learned,  which  few  have 

done."  — Milton. 

"Concerning  the  bonds  of  unity,  the  true  placing  of 
them  importeth  exceedingly.  There  appear  to  be  two 
extremes:  for  to  certain  zealots  all  speech  of  pacifica- 
tion is  odious.  'Is  it  peace,  Jehu?'  'What  hast  thou 
to  do  with  peace?  turn  thee  behind  me.'  Peace  is  not 
the  matter  but  following  and  party.  Contrariwise, 
certain  Laodiceans  and  lukewarm  persons  think  they 
may  accommodate  points  of  religion  by  middle  ways, 
and  taking  part  of  both,  and  witty  reconcilements,  as 
if  they  would  make  an  arbitrament  between  God  and 
man." — Francis  Bacon. 


ECONOMY  OF  FOECES :  ORGANIZATION 

Every  assembly  has  a  tendency  to  become  an 
organization.  For  this  is  simply  to  say  that  the 
life  forces  that  constitute  it  tend  to  take  orderly 
directions  for  the  sake  of  greater  effectiveness. 

Though  it  be  the  case  of  a  mere  temporary  as- 
sembly, meeting  once  and  dissolving  forever,  this 
is  true.  Supposing  it  to  have  on  hand  business  of 
serious  importance,  it  will  elect  a  president  and 
other  officers,  and  observe  certain  rules  of  pro- 
cedure; in  a  word,  it  will  "organize."  But  if 
regular  meetings  are  to  be  held,  and  an  associa- 
tion or  community  formed  which  shall  exist  as 
such  even  when  not  actually  convened,  much  more 
may  organization  be  expected  to  occur.  It  must 
occur,  unless  the  Weakness  and  waste  of  confusion 
are  lawful.  Its  analogue  in  physiology  is  differ- 
entiation of  function,  in  industry  the  division  of 
labor. 

I 

Imagine  a  score  of  persons,  all  unknown  to  one 
another,  cast  upon  an  uninhabited  island, 
Rich,  but  the  loneliest  in  a  lonely  sea. 

Each   pursues   his   own   course   and   contrives   to 

(95) 


96  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

keep  himself  alive.  But  one  daj^  each  is  somehow 
made  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  others.  Im- 
mediately they  are  drawn  together  by  the  desire 
for  human  companionship.  Simply  as  social  be- 
ings they  associate.  It  is  a  matter  not  of  calcu- 
lation but  of  instinct. 

This  companionship,  however,  also  proves  phys- 
ically beneficial.  It  strongly  suggests  to  the  com- 
pany how  to  interact  so  as  to  become  larger  pro- 
ducers of  wealth.  Let  all  agree  to  work  together, 
each  doing  the  tasks  for  which  he  is  best  fitted, 
correlating  his  line  of  activity  all  the  Avhile  with 
those  of  his  companions ;  and  in  this  way  each 
will  receive  a  larger  product  from  his  labor  than 
if  he  were  working  alone.  Thus  arises  organiza- 
tion for  the  sake  of  cooperation,  that  each  man 
may  be  personally  benefited. 

Nor  is  self-love  the  only  motive.  Good  will 
also  exerts  an  influence.  Each  worker  gives  as 
well  as  receives,  and  is  glad  to  do  so. 

Indeed,  a  still  larger  altruistic  motive  may  be- 
come operative.  Apart  from  any  good  which  they 
shall  gain  for  themselves,  these  islanders  would 
like  to  improve  and  perfect  the  country.  They 
say  one  to  another  (it  may  at  least  be  imagined), 
Let  us  cowork  with  the  Creator  in  the  making  of 
the  world ;  we  are  men ;  therefore,  for  the  sake  of 
oiir  fellows  who  may  come  and  be  united  with  us, 
for  the  whole  world's  sake,  let  us  subdue  the  land 
and  make   it   fruitful   and  good.     This  purpose, 


Econmny  of  Fmxea  97 

equally  with  that  of  mere  personal  and  mutual 
benefit,  would  call  for  organization. 

Here,  therefore,  to  begin  with  is  instinctive  as- 
sociation ;  and  then  organization,  with  first  an 
egoistic  and  secondly  an  altruistic  motive — 
three  successive  stages  of  social  progress.  And 
the  very  same  are  seen  in  the  actual  world  around 
us.  Association  everywhere;  egoistic  organiza- 
tion, as  in  an  industrial  establishment,  or  in  the 
great  institution  of  civil  government,  for  the 
good  of  the  participants ;  benevolent  organization, 
as  in  the  case  of  a  scientific  or  an  educational  or 
a  philanthropic  societ3%  for  the  advancement  of 
some  form  of  human  well-being. 

And  thus,  incomparably  greatest  of  all  benevo- 
lent institutions,  appears  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ.  In  its  essential  idea  a  communion  and 
congregation,  it  inevitably  develops  into  an  or- 
ganization, for  the  good  of  its  own  members  in- 
deed, but  also  and  always  for  cooperation  under 
the  larger  and  supreme  motive  of  the  whole 
world's  salvation. 

Note  the  inevitableness  of  this  development,  as 
illustrated  in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  shown 
incidentally  in  one  of  Paul's  words  to  the  Corin- 
thians :  "If  then  ye  have  to  judge  things  pertaining 
to  this  life,  do  ye  set  them  to  judge  who  are  of  no 
account  in  tlie  church  ?"  There  were  difficulties 
between  church  members,  that  needed  to  be  some- 
how arbitrated :  who  should  be  chosen  as  arbitra- 
7 


98  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

tors?  N"ot  heathen  courts,  said  the  apostle- 
pastor,  but  some  Christian  man,  and  he  not  the 
least  worthy  but  the  wisest  in  the  church:  "Is  it 
so  that  there  cannot  be  found  among  you  one  wise 
man,  who  shall  be  able  to  decide  between  his 
brethren,  but  brother  goeth  to  law  with  brother, 
and  that  before  unbelievers?''^  Even  in  this  in- 
fant Christian  society  there  was  demanded  a  court 
of  arbitration,  as  an  organ  of  peacemaking  among 
the  brethren. 

Not  only  the  office  of  judging,  but  other  offices 
of  equal  or  greater  importance  would  be  demanded. 
There  were  men,  also,  fitted  by  gifts  from  God  to 
fill  them.  They  would  vise  their  gifts,  as  oppor- 
tunity offered,  and  be  recognized  by  the  congre- 
gation in  such  offices.  Here  are  men  sent  forth 
by  Christ  himself  as  his  witnesses,  to  disciple  all 
nations:  let  that  be  their  high  and  peculiar  func- 
tion. Here  are  men  gifted  to  teach  the  way  of  the 
Lord  in  the  congregation :  let  them  be  the  ac- 
knowledged teachers,  while  others  take  the  place 
of  hearers  and  learners.  Here  are  men  of  wisdom 
and  approved  integrity  to  take  charge  of  moneys 
contributed  for  the  relief  of  the  poor :  let  them  be 
appointed  to  that  office.  Here  are  men  better  en- 
dowed than  others  in  the  congregation  for  the 
exercise  of  discipline  and  government,  and  they 
too  are  needed :  let  them  be  set  apart  as  presby- 

'1  Cor.  vi.  4-6. 


Economy  of  Forces  99 

ters.  All  Christians  may  take  part  in  worship,  in 
bearing  testimony,  in  giving,  in  numberless  good 
works :  let  the  opportunity  be  provided  for  them. 
So  it  was  that  the  first  congregations  of  Christian 
people  began,  under  divine  guidance  and  inspira- 
tion, to  be  organized.  "First  apostles,  secondly 
prophets,  thirdly  teachers,  then  miracles,  gifts  of 
healing,  helps,  governments,  divers  kinds  of 
tongues."^ 

Evidently  there  was  nothing  here  suggestive  in 
the  slightest  degree  of  conventionalism  or  artifi- 
ciality. What  does  appear  is  the  economy  of  spir- 
itual power.  Let  each  devote  himself  to  the  work 
which  he  is  best  fitted  for,  that  the  welfare  of  all 
may  be  promoted — such  is  everywhere  the  eco- 
nomic requirement.  It  is  shown  in  the  word  of 
the  apostles  in  Jerusalem,  when  they  asked  to  be 
relieved  of  the  supervision  of  the  daily  ministra- 
tion to  the  poor,  which  they  had  undertaken  for  a 
church  not  yet  organized:  "It  is  not  fit  that  wo 
should  forsake  the  word  of  God,  and  serve  tables. 
Look  ye  out  therefore,  brethren,  from  among  you 
seven  men  of  good  report,  full  of  the  Spirit  and 
of  wisdom,  whom  we  may  appoint  over  this  busi- 
ness. But  we  will  continue  steadfastly  in  prayer 
and  in  the  ministry  of  the  word."^  And  if  any 
one  shall  inquire  as  to  the  source  and  primal  au- 
thority of  this  economy,  the  answer  is  given  with 

=1  Cor.  xii.  28.       'Acts  vi.  2-4. 


100  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

the  utmost  distinctness  by  the  great  leader  on 
whom,  more  than  on  any  other,  rested  the  care 
of  the  widely  separated  churches :  "God  is  not  a 
God  of  confusion  but  of  peace,  as  in  all  the  church- 
es of  the  saints."*  He  is  the  God  of  life;  and  life 
must  move  along  the  lines  of  law. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  out  of  the  spiritual 
gifts  (charismata)  bestowed  upon  the  apostolic 
churches,  there  arose  two  orders  of  service :  name- 
ly, what  may  be  called  the  prophetic  ministry  and 
the  ministry  of  government.  Of  the  first  order 
were  apostles,  prophets,  and  teachers;  of  the  sec- 
ond, bishops,  or  presbyters,  and  deacons. 

It  was  the  ministry  of  government  that  consti- 
tuted the  formal,  or  legal,  organization  of  the 
churches.    And  it  has  never  ceased  to  be. 

Moreover,  from  the  very  beginning  the  two  or- 
ders have  tended  to  coalesce  in  the  same  persons. 
For  example,  just  as  in  the  first  century  it  was  de- 
sirable that  the  bishop-presbyter  should  be  "apt  to 
teach,"  laboring  "in  the  word  and  in  teaching,"^ 
so  in  the  twentieth  century,  the  pastor,  rector, 
bishop,  elder,  preacher  in  charge,  priest — by  what- 
ever name  the  chief  minister  of  a  congregation  or 
of  a  number  of  congregations  may  be  called — is 
to  be  preacher  and  teacher  no  less  than  ruler  in 
the  Church. 

n  Cor.  xiv.  33.    '^l  Tim.  iii.  2;  v.  17. 


Economy  of  Forces  101 

II 

Numerous  and  widely  different  have  been  the 
forms  of  ecclesiastical  organization.  They  were 
somewhat  different  in  the  apostolic  age — marked 
by  similarity  rather  than  sameness.  Even  the 
later  dominant  ideal  of  Catholicism  found  it  dif- 
ficult to  secure  an  absolute  uniformity.  If  cre- 
ated, would  it  not  have  been  more  a  "dead  work" 
to  be  regretted  than  an  organ  of  life?  But  that 
which  we  have  now  to  note  is  the  fact  of  organiza- 
tion :  its  forms  may  be  studied — in  some  later 
book,  I  hope. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  polity  of  the  Church 
as  it  has  risen,  grown,  varied,  strengthened,  per- 
sisted, cast  off  impediments  and  corruptions,  from 
the  beginning,  or  as  it  exists  to-day,  could  not 
have  been  foreseen,  even  in  outline,  by  any  mind 
of  the  first  century. 

Supposing  a  student  of  the  New  Testament — 
say,  some  converted  Hindoo  or  Chinaman — with- 
out any  knowledge  of  the  Churches  of  Christen- 
dom and  their  constitutional  history,  to  be  asked 
what  forms  of  organization  have  been  taken  by 
them,  there  cannot  be  the  least  doubt  of  his  in- 
ability to  answer  the  question.  Could  he  tell  what 
forms  ought  to  have  been  taken?  The  teaching 
of  the  New  Testament  on  church  polity — it  is  a 
point  where  opinions  will  differ,  and  controversy 
find  its  age-long  opportunity. 


102  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

The  two  most  antagonistic  conceptions  are  the 
papal  and  the  congregational. 

According  to  the  claim  of  the  papacy,  the 
Church  is  a  single  visible  body  throughout  the 
world.  Its  authority  both  to  teach  and  to  govern 
is  centered  in  one  man,  the  Bishop  of  Rome. 
Laymen  are  entitled  to  no  part  in  ecclesiastical 
government :  bishops  and  priests  are  the  rulers, 
under  the  supreme  and  indefeasible  authority  of 
the  Vicar  of  Christ.  This  is  the  Lord's  own  will 
and  appointment.  Those,  therefore,  and  those 
only,  who  live  in  connection  with  the  See  of  Rome 
are  members  of  Christ's  Church. 

To  the  Congregationalist  this  is  an  utterly  in- 
credible conception.  But  not  only  so :  he  is  una- 
ble to  recognize  any  proper  ecclesiastical  authori- 
ty whatsoever  outside  the  local  church.  Accord- 
ing to  his  belief  it  is  the  will  of  Christ  that  the 
universal  Church  should  be  made  up  of  self-gov- 
erning congregations ;  it  was  so  in  apostolic  times, 
and  should  be  so  forever;  the  power  of  govern- 
ment has  been  committed  of  God  to  the  people; 
all  church  officers  are  to  be  appointed  by  them, 
and  as  their  representatives ;  churches,  it  is  true, 
ought  to  form  associations  for  the  sake  of  confer- 
ence and  cooperation,  but  in  no  case  for  the  sake 
of  authoritative  control ;  each  congregation  is  di- 
rectly responsible  to  Christ  for  its  own  govern- 
ment. 

Between  these  two  extremes,  which,  if  it  were 


Economy  of  Forces  103 

a  matter  of  civil  government,  would  both  be  nota- 
ble for  their  simplicity  and  primitiveness,  are  two 
other  ecclesiastical  types — the  presbyterial  and 
the  episcopal. 

Presbyterianism  does  not  conceive  of  the  Church 
as  consisting  of  independent  and  self-governing 
congregations,  but  as  a  larger  whole  consisting  of 
separate  congregations,  and  under  a  compact  rep- 
resentative general  government.  It  has  developed, 
indeed,  a  graded  system  of  governing  bodies,  from 
that  over  the  local  congregation  to  that  of  the 
presbytery,  which  exercises  jurisdiction  over  a 
number  of  congregations,  and  that  of  the  synod, 
which  exercises  a  still  wider  jurisdiction,  to  that 
of  the  General  Assembly,  which  is  supreme  over 
all.  But  in  none  of  these  governing  bodies  do  the 
people  appear  personally.  They  appear  only  in 
the  person  of  their  representatives,  the  presby- 
ters. These  presbyters  they  elect  as  rulers  in  each 
congregation;  and  with  this  vote  their  part  in 
church  government,  whether  congregational  or 
general,  begins  and  ends.  Elected  presbyters  alone 
legislate  and  bear  rule. 

Episcopacy  would  divide  the  ecclesiastical  ter- 
ritory into  districts,  or  dioceses,  and  place  over 
each,  as  its  supreme  ruler,  a  bishop.  No  one 
bishop  possesses  any  inherent  authority  over  an- 
other. All  are  equal:  each  is  responsible  to  God 
only.  Each  is  an  ecclesiastical  monarch,  ruling 
alone  in  his  little  realm.    As  a  matter  of  practical 


104  The  Idea  of  the  Chwch 

expediency,  bishops  must  come  to  some  agreement 
among  themselves,  and  ma}'  even  submit  to  the 
oversight  of  an  archbishop.  Thus,  to  use  again 
the  analogous  civic  terms,  their  dioceses  become  a 
body  of  federated  monarchies,  and  exemplify  in- 
stead of  violating  the  external  unity  of  the  Church. 
But  there  can  be  no  bishop  of  bishops — no  essen- 
tially higher  authority,  legislative,  administrative, 
or  judicial,  than  that  of  the  simple  bishop. 

The  papal,  the  congregational,  the  presbyterial, 
the  episcopal — these  are  the  four  great  types  of 
church  polity.  It  is  not  to  be  expected,  however, 
that  they  shall  always  be  found  in  their  purity. 
Divers  composite  forms  appear.  Episcopacy  es- 
pecially— so  great  are  its  supposed  advantages  and 
at  the  same  time  so  serious  its  supposed  evils — 
may  be  found  in  greatly  modified  forms,  under 
some  of  which  it  would  be  unwilling  to  acknowl- 
edge any  close  relationship  with  what  may  be 
taken  as  the  historic,  or  Cyprianic,  type. 

Of  none  of  these  forms  of  organization,  simple 
or  mixed,  could  a  Christian  of  the  first  century 
have  safely  predicted.  This  polity  will  arise,  per- 
sist, and  prevail ;  even  as  of  none  may  a  Christian 
of  the  twentieth  century  safely  assert,  This  polity 
alone  is  divinely  authorized. 

Ill 

But  whatever  may  be  one's  ecclesiological  views 
and  preferences,  it  Avill  be  granted  that  the  nuraer- 


Economy  of  Forces  105 

ous  forms  of  Church  organization  are  not  forms 
only.  Of  none  can  this  be  true.  They  appear  as 
embodiments  not  only  of  fellowship  with  Christ 
and  of  one  another  in  him — which  has  the  right  at 
least  to  claim  supremacy — but  also  of  specific  or 
denominational  ideas,  aspirations,  principles.  As 
truly  as  denominational  creeds  or  liturgies  do  they 
express  outwardly  a  truth  of  thought  and  feeling 
within.  The  papacy,  for  example,  stands  for  the 
idea  of  order,  external  unity,  authority;  Congrega- 
tionalism, for  the  idea  of  freedom,  brotherhood, 
that  ultimate  reality,  the  person,  direct  depend- 
ence on  Christ  as  the  Head  of  the  Church.  The 
one  for  solidarity,  the  other  for  individualism. 

When  the  words,  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
within  you,''  were  quoted  to  Frederick  Denison 
Maurice,  "Yes,  and  so  is  the  kingdom  of  En- 
gland," was  his  reply.  A  misinterpretation,  if  in- 
tended to  be  interpretative  of  our  Lord's  great 
saying;  but  aptly  suggestive  of  the  genesis  and 
the  ground  of  every  system  of  government  on 
earth.  For  every  one  of  them  has  formed  itself 
and  persisted  in  maintaining  itself  about  ideas. 
Not  indeed  that  these  organizing  ideas  are  al- 
ways held  in  their  intellectual  and  moral  integrity. 
Far  from  it.  They  are  often  overstrained  or  cor- 
rupted. Authority  may  degenerate  into  tyranny, 
freedom  into  schism.  And  the  particular  form  of 
government  may  tend  either  to  foster  or  to  re- 
press the  inner  fault. 


106  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

It  is  also  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  outward  cir- 
cumstances have  their  share  in  the  development 
of  ecclesiastical  polity. 

These  are  the  environment  of  the  planted  seed, 
affecting  in  this  or  that  direction,  for  good  or  ill, 
the  movements  of  the  unseen  life.  N"othing  can 
grow,  neither  seed  nor  idea,  neither  plant  nor  in- 
stitution, in  vacuo.  Correspondences  and  com- 
munications must  be  established  between  the  life 
force  within  and  sundry  things,  influences,  forces, 
in  the  world  without.  It  is  not  to  be  expected, 
therefore,  that  a  church's  economy  should  show 
no  marks  of  its  historic  conditions. 

To  take  a  palpable  instance,  the  position  of  the 
city  of  Home  as  the  capital  of  the  civilized  world, 
the  early  and  supposed  apostolic  origin  of  the 
church  in  that  imperial  "center  and  symbol  of 
civil  unity,"  the  decline  of  the  Empire,  the  bar- 
barism and  territorial  greatness  of  the  West, — 
all  these  things  were  favorable  to  the  rise  and  de- 
velopment of  the  papal  power.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  growth  of  the  national  spirit  in  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries  made  against  pa- 
pal supremacy,  and  determined  the  formation  of 
State  Churches.  And  to  take  a  very  different  in- 
stance, the  lack  of  Christian  discipline  in  the 
State  Church  of  England  gave  occasion  for  the 
resurgence  of  Congregationalism  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  But  in  all  cases  the  formative  princi- 
ple is  within ;  external  conditions  only  determine 


Econowy  of  Forces  107 

the  times  and  modify  the  manner  of  its  expres- 
sion. 

Tlie  formative  principle  is  within:  it  may  not 
be  amiss  to  pause  a  few  moments  in  emphasis  upon 
this  truth  as  illustrated  in  the  earliest  Christian 
congregations.  They  did  not  mechanically  copy 
their  form  of  organization  from  the  synagogue.^ 
They  did  not  copy  it  from  the  municipal  govern- 
ments or  the  beneficiary  associations  or  the  burial 
societies  of  the  Grseco-Eoman  world.'^  It  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  they  should;  it  would  have 
been  unreasonable  and  undivine.  They  had  a  life 
of  their  own,  a  distinctly  marked  individuality,  a 
new  and  supernatural  life,  that  called  for  its  own 
forms  of  organization  as  a  'T)ody  obedient  to  the 
soul's  commands. "- 

Not  only  was  the  principle  of  communion,  hence 
of  congregation,  and  hence  of  organization — 
namely,  fellowship  with  Christ  and  with  one  an- 
other in  him — the  Christian  Churches'  own  pe- 

"Advocates  of  the  presbyterial  form  of  government 
have  sometimes  made  too  much  of  the  synagogical 
organization  as  determining  that  of  the  first  Christian 
Churches. 

'Dr.  Edwin  Hatch  ("Organization  of  the  Early 
Christian  Churches")  and  others,  following  his  lead, 
have  certainly  made  too  much  of  the  formative  influ- 
ence of  these  societies  of  paganism  upon  ecclesiastical 
organization. 

^Lindsay,  "Church  and  Ministry  in  the  Early  Cen- 
turies," pp.  131,  132. 


108  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

culiar  principle ;  but  the  method  of  organization 
which  they  followed  was  also  peculiarly  their  own. 
What  was  that  method?  As  already  indicated,  it 
was  to  recognize  and  utilize  the  spiritual  gifts  im- 
parted to  Christian  believers  through  the  presence 
of  the  living  Christ  among  them.  Did  any  truly 
prophesy  and  teach?  Let  them  be  accepted  as 
prophets  and  teachers.  Did  any  show  gifts  of 
ministration  to  bodily  needs,  of  admonition,  of 
oversight  and  rulership  ?  Let  them  serve  in  these 
capacities.  Or,  was  the  need  of  a  certain  service 
felt?  Then  let  the  congregation  recognize  that 
need  and  set  apart  to  such  service,  either  formally 
or  informally,  the  suitably  gifted  men.  In  a 
word,  the  Spirit  of  God  was  looked  to  and  trusted 
as,  in  the  most  real  sense,  the  organizer  of  the 
Church.  And  obedience  to  its  officers  was  obe- 
dience to  those  whom  God  himself  had  immediate- 
ly called  to  their  office.  It  was  obedience  to  God.® 
Xow  is  this  method  to  be  regarded  as  suited  to 
the  apostolic  age  only,  and  hence  long  ago  anti- 
quated ?    In  its  essential  idea  it  can  never  become 

*This  view  is  strongly  presented  in  Sohm's  "Kir- 
chenrecht,"  as  interpreted  by  Walter  Lowrie  in  "The 
Church  and  Its  Organization,"  pp.  141-150.  But  the 
author  goes  too  far  in  his  insistence  that  the  present- 
day  organization  of  the  churches  (implying,  unless 
I  fail  to  catch  his  meaning,  that  in  no  instance  has  it 
any  such  spiritual  and  charismatic  basis)  is  directly 
contrary  to  the  nature  and  essence  of  a  Christian 
church. 


JEconomy  of  Forces  109 

antiquated.  Those  who  have  ears  to  hear  may 
still  "hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  cliurches" ; 
for  he  is  in  the  midst  of  them  now  as  trul}^  as  in 
the  beginning.  The  Son  of  Man  still  walks  among 
the  seven  golden  lamp-stands,  holding  the  seven 
stars,  which  are  the  "angels"  of  the  seven  church- 
es, in  his  right  hand;  and  his  voice  may  still  be 
heard  as  the  voice  of  many  waters.^"  He  ma}^  ever 
be  trusted  to  endow,  enable,  and  call  his  servants 
for  the  work  he  would  have  them  do.  Therefore 
it  must  be  the  Church's  endeavor  to  choose  for  its 
officers  those  whom  he  has  chosen  and  empowered, 
and  to  honor  them  as  his  representatives.  Let  an 
ancient  formula,  even  yet  regularly  and  widely  ob- 
served, stand  as  a  witness,  notwithstanding  its 
painful  abuses,  of  the  Church's  recognition  of  the 
one  perfect  method  of  forming  its  offices  of  gov- 
ernment and  of  teaching:  "Are  you  persuaded 
that  you  are  truly  called  to  this  ministration,  ac- 
cording to  the  will  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ?"" 
If  it  be  objected  that  this  is  a  faith  that  may 
easily  degenerate  into  superstition,  that  some  mere 
unmeaning,  outward  circumstance  or  subjective 
fancy  may  be  taken  as  the  very  voice  of  God,  the 
objection  must  be  frankly  admitted.     The  danger 

"Rev.  i.  13-15. 

""Form  of  Consecrating  Bishops,"  in  the  Ordinal 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches.  Cf.  the  origi- 
nal form  as  used  in  the  Church  of  England  and  the, 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 


110  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

to  which  it  calls  attention  is  both  real  and  of  se- 
rious import.^-  But  it  is  the  same  danger  that  at- 
tends upon  the  acceptance  and  practice  of  all  spir- 
itual truth.  Other  voices  ma}'  indeed  be  followed 
as  the  voice  of  the  indwelling  Spirit  of  God;  for 
the  sense  of  moral  and  spiritual  discernment,  like 
the  intellectual  judgment,  ma}^  be  defective.  Nev- 
ertheless we  "believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost"  even  more 
trustfully  than  "in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church." 

IV 

Let  us  pause  to  mark  the  not  unfamiliar  dis- 
tinction between  organism  and  mechanism.  In 
the  case  of  an  organism — say,  any  plant  or  ani- 
mal— the  creative  and  controlling  force  is  from 
within.  It  is  that  inscrutable  mystery,  life.  All 
that  it  asks  is  material  to  work  upon,  under  suita- 
ble conditions.  These  requirements  met,  every 
living  germ  makes  its  own  body.  It  will  put  forth 
the  various  appropriate  organs,  diffusing  itself 
through  them  all,  and  thus  holding  them  together 
in  cooperation  and  unity.  But  in  the  case  of  a 
mechanism  the  controlling  force  is  from  without. 
A  machine  left  to  itself  is  helpless  and  worthless: 
it  can  do  nothing.  The  clock  must  be  wound  up 
by  some  human  hand,  else  there  is  no  marking  of 
time  by  the  'Viands"  on  the  dial.     The  locomotive 

'^Moore,  "The  New  Testament  in  the  Christian 
Church,"  pp.  238,  239. 


Economy  of  Forces  111 

engine  must  be  waited  upon  with  regular  supplies 
of  coal  and  water,  and  adjusted  b}^  the  engineer 
to  the  train  and  the  track ;  else  it  is  only  a  pile  of 
iron. 

Now  an  organization  may  be  an  organism.  That 
is  to  sa}'',  it  may  create,  in  its  process  of  forma- 
tion, the  very  offices  which  its  needs  demand,  and 
support  them  with  its  own  common  life,  as  truly 
as  the  plant  puts  forth  and  sustains  root,  branch, 
leaf,  blossom. 

But  organization  is  likely  to  include  more  or 
less  of  mechanism.  This  will  occur  when  the 
forms  of  government  and  methods  of  procedure 
are  imposed  from  without,  or  have  served  their 
day  and  are  now  antiquated  and  outgrown,  or  for 
any  reason  do  not  express  the  present  mind  and 
needs  of  the  society.  x\nd  the  fact  that  here  con- 
cerns us  is,  that  Christian  churches,  like  any  other 
societies,  are  not  pure  and  perfect  organisms.  The 
unfit,  the  inexpressive,  the  mechanical,  frequently 
appear  in  their  economy. 

It  is  possible,  however,  for  that  which  in  itself  is 
mere  mechanism  to  serve  as  an  instrument,  if  not 
in  the  strict  sense  an  organ,  of  life.  A  pen  is  but 
a  mechanical  device ;  yet  the  pen  in  the  hand  of  a 
skillful  chirographer  becomes,  as  it  were,  a  part  of 
the  hand  itself.  The  grafting  of  a  plant  is  a  me- 
chanical process.  The  pippin  tree,  left  to  itself, 
would  produce  only  pippins  perpetually.  But  in- 
graft with  knife  and  bandages  into   one   of  its 


112  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

brandies  a  scion  off  some  other  apple  tree:  it  will 
be  accepted,  supported,  incorporated,  and  made  to 
bear  not  pippins  indeed  but  some  other  sort  of  ap- 
ples. So  likewise  will  a  living  church  utilize  even 
its  mechanism  and  express  its  organic  life  through 
the  less  vital  forms  of  its  organization.  As  it  may 
quicken  with  a  new  life  credal  and  liturgic  forms 
that  do  not  perfectly  represent  its  present  beliefs 
and  spirit  of  worship,  so  with  governmental  forms. 

If  there  must  be  something  of  the  mechanical, 
a  bit  of  machinery,  let  it  be  vivified — as  in  the 
prophet's  vision  by  the  river  Chebar,  where  "the 
spirit  of  the  living  creatures  (margin,  spirit  of 
life)  was  in  the  wlieels."^^ 

Sometimes  an  office  whose  original  function  is 
no  longer  demanded  finds  a  somewhat  different 
work  to  do  for  which  there  is  a  present  demand : 
as,  for  illustration,  when  the  deacon,  originally  an 
officer  of  finance  and  care-taker  of  the  poor,  be- 
comes in  episcopally  governed  Churches  chiefly  an 
assistant  in  congregational  worship  and  a  proba- 
tioner for  the  presbyterate ;  or  when  in  early  Amer- 
ican Methodism  the  presiding  elder,  appointed  as 
an  administrator  of  sacraments  in  pastoral  charges 
without  ordained  pastors,  becomes  a  general  su- 
perintendent -of  the  interests  and  affairs  of  his 
district. 

No  one  of  course  will  contend,  however,  that 

"Ezek.  i.  21. 


Economy  of  Forces  113 

a  piece  of  ecclesiastical  machinery  must  needs 
be  perpetuated  because  of  what  good  service  it 
might  be  made  to  yield.  In  some  cases  the  best 
use  that  can  be  made  of  a  feeble  or  decadent 
branch  is  to  cut  it  off  the  tree. 


The  Christian  idea  of  organization,  or  office, 
has  been  set  forth  for  all  time  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, as  that  of  service. 

Another  name  for  the  highest  officers  is  min- 
ister, or  servant  (StaKovos)."  To  prophesy,  to 
teach,  to  evangelize,  to  administer,  to  rule,  is  to 
serve.  So  the  Apostle  Peter,  having  exhorted 
the  "younger"  to  "be  subject  unto  the  elder,"  im- 
mediately adds,  "Yea,  all  of  you  gird  yourselves 
with  humility,  to  serve  one  another."^^  One  an- 
other— the  elder  serving  the  younger,  who  are 
subject  to  them,  as  well  as  the  younger  serving  the 
elder,  who  have  the  rule  over  them.  Any  different 
conception  is  entirely  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  the 
New  Testament.  Of  men  like  Diotrephes,  who 
love  "to  have  the  preeminence"' — prominent  posi- 
tion for  its  own  sake — it  is  written,  "He  that  do- 
eth  evil  hath  not  seen  God."^® 

But  let  us  not  take  any  narrow  or  merely  ec- 
clesiastic view  of  this  teaching.    For  what  we  have 

"2  Cor.  iii.  6;  vi.  4.       '^1  Pet.  v.  5. 
^^3  John  9,  11. 


114  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Chuixli 

here  is  only  one  large  and  luminous  instance  of  a 
universal  truth.  All  offices  and  occupations  are 
for  service.  All  are  divinely  intended  for  the 
common  weal.  This  larger  truth  is  fairly  recog- 
nized with  respect  to  what  are  known  as  the  "pro- 
fessions" in  contradistinction  to  the  trades  and 
mercantile  pursuits.  A  physician  or  a  teacher,  for 
example,  who  practices  his  art  simply  for  the 
money  he  can  make  out  of  it,  is  looked  upon  as 
unworthy  of  his  calling.  Every  one  may  feel  the 
ring  of  reality  in  the  injunction  of  Mary  Lyon, 
founder  of  Mount  Holyoke  College,  "Never  teach 
immortal  minds  for  money."  Every  one  will 
speak  disparagingly  of  a  man  who  "makes  a  trade" 
of  an  art  or  profession.  But  in  point  of  fact  the 
trade,  or  manufacture,  or  mercantile  business,  is 
as  truly  for  service  as  any  other  calling ;  and  only 
in  the  Christian  spirit  of  service  can  it  be  rightly 
pursued. 

Shall  there  be  office-seeking,  then,  in  the  broth- 
erhood of  Jesus"  disciples?  In  1  Tim.  iii.  1,  "If 
a  man  seeketh  the  office  of  a  bishop,  he  desireth  a 
good  work,"  there  is  something  like  candidature 
for  a  place  in  the  presbytery  suggested.  But  it  is 
also  suggested  that  any  desire  for  a  presbyter's 
place  must  be  unselfish.  It  must  be  that  of  a 
seeker  of  "a  good  work." 

Not  official  position  but  spiritual  gifts  may  be 
craved.  Which  spiritual  gifts?  Preferably  those 
which  are  most  edifying,  most  serviceable.     These 


Economy  of  Forces  115 

are  the  "greater  gifts."^''  Hence  the  distinction, 
"Desire  earnestly  to  prophesy,  and  forbid  not  to 
speak  with  tongues."^^  For  prophesying  is  more 
directly  and  richly  "edification,  and  comfort,  and 
consolation."^®  Usefulness  not  prominence,  serv- 
ice not  promotion,  is  the  law.  "Let  all  that  ye  do 
be  done  in  love."^° 

A  man  of  this  excellent  spirit  will  be  a  worker 
already,  diligently  exercising,  in  any  position,  the 
gifts  which  he  possesses.  This  will  be  a  sign  of 
fitness  for  rule  and  leadership;  the  absence  of  it 
would  condemn  the  desire  for  office  as  an  unholy 
ambition.  In  the  apostolic  churches,  it  was  the 
workers  that  were  acknowledged  as  rulers.  "We 
beseech  you,  brethren,  to  know  them  that  labor 
among  you  and  are  over  you  in  the  Lord,  and  ad- 
monish you ;  and  to  esteem  them  exceeding  highly 
in  love  for  their  work's  sake."^'^  Concerning  the 
household  of  Stephanus,  who  had  "set  themselves 
to  minister  unto  the  saints/'  the  exhortation  is 
given,  "that  ye  also  he  in  subjection  unto  such, 
and  to  every  one  that  helpeth  in  the  work  and  la- 
boreth."^^  It  was  service  that  made  for  rulership. 
Who  shall  be  obeyed?  The  paradoxical  church 
answer  was.  Your  servants. 

But  out  of  the  passion  for  prominence  and  au- 

"1  Cor.  xii.  31.  ="1  Cor.  xvi.  14. 

"1  Cor.  xiv.  39.  «1  Thess.  v.  12. 

^n  Cor.  xiv.  3.  "1  Cor.  xvi.  15,  16. 


116  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

thority,  or  out  of  the  still  baser  passion  for  emolu- 
ment, arises  the  office-seeker,  spoiling  God's  order. 
The  apostles  knew,  wrote  Clement  of  Eome  at  a 
time  when  the  last  of  the  Twelve  had  but  recently 
entered  into  rest,  "that  there  would  be  strife  over 
the  name  of  the  overseer's  office."-^  So  has  it  been 
more  or  less  frequently,  through  many  genera- 
tions. Ungirded  with  humility,  and  too  easily 
persuading  themselves  of  the  purity  of  their  mo- 
tives, men  have  sought,  through  doing  and  not 
doing,  through  speech  and  silence,  their  own  offi- 
cial advancement.  In  not  a  few  instances  this  am- 
bition is  gratified:  those  who  seek  find,  and  so 
have  their  reward.  But  it  is  not  Jesus'  way.  It 
is  the  way  of  "the  princes  of  the  Gentiles." 

"Do  you  serve  in  this  parish?"  it  was  asked  a 
Puritan  minister  of  the  old  time  in  New  England. 
"Serve?  I  rule  in  this  parish,"  was  the  reply. 
But  surely  it  is  not  well  that  the  spontaneous  con- 
sciousness of  the  Christian  minister  should  be  that 
of  ruling  rather  than  that  of  ministering.  Office 
is  another  name  for  opportunity.  Minister  means 
more  than  rector.  Upon  the  heart  of  every  office- 
bearer in  Church  or  State,  in  all  societies  and  cor- 
porations, the  word  should  be  written,  Larger  and 
more  difficult  service.  In  proportion  as  the  mind 
of  Christ  becomes  dominant,  it  will  be  so  written. 

What    right    has    any    man    to    hold    wealth? 

='Epist.  XLIV.  1. 


Economy  of  Forces  117 

None,  save  as  he  uses  it  for  the  good  of  the  world. 
Nor  has  any  man  a  right  to  hold  office,  save  on 
the  same  condition.  The  people  are  not  for  the 
king,  but  the  king  for  the  people.  Of  the  two 
Antonines  it  has  been  said  that  they  were  the  only 
Roman  emperors  that  devoted  themselves  "to  the 
task  of  government  with  a  single  view  to  the  hap- 
piness of  the  people."  But  if  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth  the  prevalent  rule  and  administra- 
tion is  arbitrary  and  self-seeking,  Jesus  has  said 
most  distinctly  that  it  shall  not  be  so  with  those 
who  are  learning  of  him.  The  congregation  is  not 
for  the  pastor,  but  the  pastor  for  the  congregation. 
"Grant  unto  us  that  we  may  sit,  one  on  thy  right 
hand  and  one  on  thy  left  hand  in  thy  glory." 
"Whosoever  would  become  great  among  you,  shall 
be  your  minister;  and  whosoever  would  be  first 
among  you,  shall  be  servant  of  all."-* 

That  is  the  royal  life  of  humanity  in  its  real- 
ized Idea.  It  is  Jesus'  way.  It  is  the  way  of 
office-seeking  and  office-holding  in  the  Church,  be- 
cause it  is  a  law  of  the  "glory"  of  Christ.  To  de- 
part from  it  is  to  bow  down  and  worship  the  world. 
From  the  beginnings  of  human  history  this  law 
of  love  has  been  foreshown  in  the  relation  of  teach- 
er and  pupil;  for  whence  is  the  higher  and  larger 
service,  from  the  pupil  to  the  teacher,  or  from  the 
teacher  to  the  pupil?     Still  more  divinely  has  it 

=^Mark  x.  37,  43. 


118  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

been  foreshown  in  parenthood,  which  is  the  crown- 
ing prophecy,  in  all  natural  relationships,  of  doing 
good  and  hoping  for  nothing  again. 

Inseparably  connected  with  such  service,  be- 
cause of  the  very  innermost  nature  of  love,  is  the 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  "Grant  us  that  we  may  sit, 
one  on  thy  right  hand  and  one  on  thy  left  hand  in 
thy  glory."  "Are  ye  able  to  drink  the  cup  that  I 
drink?  or  to  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I 
am  baptized  with  ?"  Whatever  office-seeking  is  ad- 
missible in  the  Congregation  of  the  Christ  is  that 
which  is  practiced,  under  no  self-delusion  and 
with  no  falsehood  on  the  lips,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Cross. 


II 

CHUECH  AT^D  STATE:  ANCIENT, 
MEDIAEVAL 

Into  whatever  region  of  the  earth  the  Church 
may  go,  she  will  find  herself  in  the  presence  of  a 
political  institution  which,  like  herself,  has  been 
ordained  of  God  for  all  men's  good.  No  one  can 
be  received  into  her  membership  who  is  not  al- 
ready, and  will  not  continue  to  be,  included  also 
in  the  jurisdiction  of  this  other  divine  institution. 
In  more  or  less  close  and  delicate  relations  will 
appear  the  Church  and  the  State. 

That  these  relations  should  often  have  been  ex- 
tremely delicate  and  difficult  is  not  a  matter  of 
surprise.  Indeed,  that  the  two  institutions  should 
have  often  failed  to  adjust  themselves  rightly  to 
each  other  was  antecedently  much  more  than  prob- 
able. For  both  are  concerned  about  the  interests  of 
the  same  people  at  the  same  time;  and  while  it  is 
easy  to  say  broadly  that  the  one  oversees  men's 
spiritual  life  and  the  other  their  bodies  and  goods, 
it  is  by  no  means  easy  to  discriminate  at  all  points 
between  the  two  jurisdictions.  Steady  and  well- 
directed  must  be  the  hand  that  will  undertake  to 
divide  this  sphere  into  halves,  and  say.  This  is  the 
department  of  care-taking  for  man  as  a  citizen, 
and  that  of  care-taking  for  man  as  a  Christian. 

(119) 


120  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

When  it  is  also  remembered  how  often  in  the 
leaders  of  both  Church  and  State  unworthy  or 
evil  motives  have  appeared  and  a  broad  intelli- 
gence has  been  lacking,  a  further  explanation  is 
given  even  of  the  bitter  controversies  and  bloody 
wars  and  woeful  waste  of  human  happiness,  the 
scandal  and  crime  of  structural  Christianity,  that 
the  politico-ecclesiastic  problem  has  occasioned. 


In  ancient  heathendom  religion  was  tribal  or 
national.  The  cults  were  such  as  had  been  au- 
thorized by  the  ruling  power.  Growing  up  as  reli- 
gious customs,  they  had  crystallized  into  civil  laws. 
A  conquered  people  might  be  allowed  to  retain  its 
own  gods,  or  might  be  required  to  adopt  those  of 
its  conqueror;  and  in  this  latter  case  the  sense  of 
hardship  was  lightened  by  the  fact  that  its  gods 
had  shown  themselves  either  unable  or  unwilling 
to  preserve  their  devotees  from  defeat.  But  in  any 
case  the  State  held  supremacy  over  all  rites  of 
worship.  Especially  in  the  earlier,  or  tribal,  stage 
of  national  life,  these  rites  were  regarded  as  of 
the  very  highest  public  importance.  First,  last, 
and  always,  by  prayers  and  offerings,  the  favor  of 
the  immortal  gods  must  be  secured.  Eeligion  was 
a  principal,  if  not  the  principal,  function  of  poli- 
tics. Patriotism  and  the  offices  of  piety  were  in- 
separable. 

Turning  now  from  pagan  peoples  to  the  de- 


Church  and  State:  Ancient^  Medkmal  121 

scendants  of  Abraham,  we  find,  first  of  all,  in  the 
patriarch's  immediate  family,  under  his  own  tents, 
a  household  church.^  Later,  we  see  in  Israel  a 
theocracy. 

Instead  of  saying  that  here  religion  was  na- 
tional, it  were  truer  to  say  that  the  nation  was  re- 
ligions. The  Church  so  controlled  and  appropri- 
ated the  State  as  to  make  the  two  one.  So,  the 
product  which  resulted  was  a  Church  State  rather 
than  a  State  Church,  In  accordance  with  laws 
civil  and  religious  (to  recognize  a  distinction 
which  has  since  been  made),  given  of  God,  must 
the  lawgiver  and  the  judges  govern  the  elect  peo- 
ple. In  still  later  times,  under  the  monarchy, 
both  before  and  after  the  division  of  the  kingdom, 
and  notwithstanding  the  often  prevalent  idolatry, 
the  theocratic  idea  still  persisted.  Jehoshaphat 
sent  princes,  Levites,  and  priests  through  all  the 
cities  of  Judah,  to  teach  the  people  out  of  the  Book 
of  the  Law  of  Jehovah.^  Josiah  made  a  covenant 
with  Jehovah,  in  behalf  of  the  people,  to  put  away 
idolatry,  and  celebrated  a  passover  such  as  had 
never  been  kept  "from  the  days  of  the  judges  that 
judged  Israel,  nor  in  all  the  days  of  the  kings."^ 
Such  was  the  throne's  relation  to  the  religion  of 
the  land.  No  conception  seems  to  have  been 
formed,  nor  any  revelation  given,  either  of  the 
State  dominating  the  Church,  or  of  two  societies, 

'Gen.  xii.  7;  xviii.  19;  xxii.  9. 

==2  Chron.  xvii.  1-9.      ^2  Kings  xxiii.  1-25. 


122  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

a  religious  and  a  civil,  Church  and  State,  existing 
side  by  side.  In  some  real  though  feeble  and 
earthly  sense,  the  king  was  viceroy  of  Jehovah, 
and  Jerusalem  "the  city  of  the  great  King."* 

Among  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion,  as  also  in 
the  home  land  under  the  rule  of  Persia  or  Syria 
or  Eome,  it  was  impossible  that  Church  and  State 
should  be  united.  The  true  religion  had  to  be 
maintained  without  the  aid,  or  even  against  the 
will,  of  the  sovereign.  It  must  perpetuate  itself 
in  the  empires  of  heathendom. 

In  these  circumstances,  it  may  be  supposed,  the 
Jewish  mind  would  become  familiarized  with  the 
idea  of  ecclesiastical  independence  of  the  State; 
and  thus  a  certain  preparation  might  be  made  for 
the  independency  of  the  churches  of  Jesus  Christ, 
when  these  should  be  founded.  Just  as  in  Babylon 
the  Church  of  Israel  learned  that  it  could  live 
without  temple  or  altar,  so  in  Babylon  and  Pales- 
tine and  elsewhere,  for  hundreds  of  years,  it 
learned  that  it  could  live  without  either  the  pat- 
ronage or  the  protection  of  the  State.  And  the 
lesson  would  be  passed  on  to  the  Church  of  the 
New  Covenant. 

Still  the  original  idea  was  not  abandoned :  "the 
pattern  showed  in  the  mount"  was  the  pattern 
still.  So  far  as  self-government  was  permitted, 
the  law  of  Moses,  though  in  later  times  overgrown 
and  made  of  no  effect  by  numberless  trivial  tradi- 

^Matt.  v.  35. 


Church  and  State:  Ancient^  Iledtceval   123 

tions,  -was  the  statute  book.  In  this  administra- 
tion of  law,  the  remnant  of  the  Covenant  People 
were  still  disregardful  of  any  distinction  between 
the  civil  and  the  religious,  the  secular  and  the  sa- 
cred. Their  judiciary,  alike  in  the  local  courts^ 
and  in  the  Great  Sanhedrin,  dealt  with  all  man- 
ner of  offenses — debt,  theft,  robbery,  assault,  mur- 
der, blasphemy,  faults  of  ritual,  false  prophecy; 
and  sentences  not  only  of  excommunication,  but 
also  of  corporal  punishment,  even  the  sentence  of 
death,  were  pronounced. 

During  the  troubled  century  of  freedom  under 
the  Asmonean  princes  (142-63  B.C.) — freedom 
that  was  gained,  by  the  sword  of  Judas  "the  Ham- 
merer" and  his  brothers,  themselves  sons  of  a 
priest,  for  the  sake  of  religious  faith  rather  than 
of  civil  rights*' — the  form  of  government  was  more 
theocratic  than  ever.  The  throne  and  the  priest- 
hood were  united :  the  ruling  prince  was  the  high 
priest — a  priest-king. 

Moreover,  before  the  anxious  eyes  of  the  faith- 
ful through  all  these  generations,  there  shone,  like 
the  starlight  that  throbs  with  prophetic  longing 
to  lose  itself  in  the  glory  of  the  dawn,  the  pre- 
cious hope  of  the  Lord  Christ's  perfected  the- 
ocracy. 

^Schiirer,  "Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  Div.  II.,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  151-154;  Matt.  v.  22;  x. 
17;  Mark  xiii.  9;  Luke  vii.  3. 

n  Mac.  ii.  42. 


124  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

II 

Then  that  which  was  old  and  ready  to  perish 
vanished  away,  and  the  New  Covenant  w^as  es- 
tablished. Jesus  of  Xazareth  was  born :  the  Word 
was  made  flesh.  Not  such  as  either  prophet  or 
people  were  fully  able  to  foresee,  but  such  as  He 
was,  even  the  Witness  of  the  truth,  Messiah  came, 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Christian  Eccle- 
sia. 

It  was  not  incorporated  into  the  State,  either  as 
controlling  or  controlled,  nor  united  with  it  in  any 
form  of  alliance.  It  stood  wholly  separate  and 
apart.  Nor  can  we  reasonably  assume  that  this 
was  due  to  the  circumstances  of  the  time — that  if 
Israel  had  been  a  free  and  independent  people,  as, 
for  instance,  in  the  days  of  David,  or  even  of  the 
Asmonean  princes,  our  Lord  would  have  put  his 
Church  into  organic  relation  with  the  civil  govern- 
ment. The  prophets  had  foretold  that  Messiah, 
when  he  appeared,  should  reign  not  through  this 
or  that  king  as  his  representative,  but  in  his  own 
person.  Himself  should  reign  personally.  Jesus, 
in  fulfilling,  interpreted  the  prophecy.  And  this 
was  the  interpretation  thereof:  The  lawgiver  and 
sovereign  of  the  soul,  the  Head  of  restored  human- 
ity, gathering  together  about  his  own  person  those 
who  were  of  the  truth  and  would  hear  his  voice.'' 

The  King  of  men,  standing,  accused  and  de- 
rided, before  the  Roman  court,  which  represented 

■John  xviii.  37. 


Church  and  State:  Ancient,  Mediceval   125 

the  judiciary  of  the  civilized  world,  averred :  "My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world ;  if  my  kingdom  were 
of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight"; 
"Thou  wouldest  have  no  power  against  me,  except 
it  were  given  thee  from  above."^  Here,  then,  wc 
may  catch  a  glimpse  of  two  great  truths,  as  truth 
is  in  Jesus:  first,  Christ's  kingdom  is  not  to  be 
established  by  force ;  secondly,  the  secular  govern- 
ment is  a  divine  ordinance. 

Accordingly  in  the  New  Testament  the  Church 
is  seen,  in  the  person  of  its  Founder  and  its  in- 
spired teachers,  using  as  its  one  weapon  the  word 
of  truth,  and  at  the  same  time  honoring  the  State 
as  an  institution  of  God,  counseling  obedience  to 
its  laws  save  where  conscience  toward  God  may 
forbid,  claiming  its  protection,  praying  for  its 
rulers.®  It  is  but  the  passionate  accusation  of  un- 
believing Jews  and  "vile  fellows  of  the  rabble"  of 
Thessalonica,  that  Paul  and  his  comrades  "all  act 
contrary  to  the  decrees  of  Csesar,  saying  that  there 
is  another  king,  one  Jesus."    Christians  were  loyal. 

This  same  independent  yet  friendly  attitude  to- 
ward the  civil  government  was  maintained  by  the 
churches  of  the  post-apostolic  age.  Certainly  the 
Christians  had  at  first  neither  the  opportunity  nor 
apparently  the  desire  to  form  any  alliance  with 
the  State.     On  the  other  hand,  it  was  in  vain  that 

"John  xviii.  36;  xix.  11. 

'Matt.  xxii.  21;  Luke  xii.  14;  Rom.  xiii.  1-7;  1  Pet. 
ii.  13-17. 


126  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

their  enemies  accused  them  of  disloj'alty — except 
as  their  indifference  to  political  office  or  failure  to 
join  in  idolatrous  worship  might  be  so  construed.^" 

The  Empire  had  a  religion  of  its  own,  of  which 
the  worship  of  the  emperor  became  the  universal 
feature.  As  the  author  of  the  Positive  Philosophy 
dedicated  a  shrine  to  his  deceased  wife  and  wor- 
shiped in  her  the  personification  of  the  spirit  of 
humanity,  and  as  the  Japanese  have  apotheosized 
their  Mikado,  so  did  the  Romans  in  the  first  three 
Christian  centuries  worship  in  the  emperor  the 
personification  of  that  great  world  power  above 
which  their  hopes  and  aspirations  were  not  wont 
to  soar.  The  State,  as  embodied  in  a  man,  was 
their  god. 

Eome  Avas  tolerant  of  all  the  faiths  of  con- 
quered peoples.  Any  region  might  practice  its  an- 
cestral religion,  though  forbidden  to  proselyte  out- 
side its  own  boundaries.  Even  the  Jews,  who,  un- 
like the  other  subject  races,  claimed  for  their  reli- 
gion absolute  truth  and  universality,  were  per- 
mitted for  the  most  part  to  worship  the  God  of 
their  fathers  in  peace. 

But  the  case  of  the  Christians  was  different.     It 

^""We  pray,  too,  for  the  emperors,  for  their  minis- 
ters, and  for  all  in  authoritj-,  for  the  welfare  of  the 
world,  for  the  prevalence  of  peace,  for  the  delay  of  the 
final  consummation."  (Tertullian,  "Apology,"  39.  Cf. 
"Apologj%"  32;  Justin  Martyr,  "II.  Apology,"  xiv.; 
Athenagoras,  "Plea  for  Christians,"  3,  37;  Busebius, 
H.  E.  IV.,  13,  26.) 


Church  and  State:  Ancient^  Mediceval  127 

is  true,  they  seem  to  have  been  regarded  at  first  as 
simply  a  sect  of  the  Jews'  religion.  But  as  the 
separation  between  Church  and  Synagogue  became 
more  marked,  Christianity  could  not  but  be  recog- 
nized as  a  separate  and  distinct  religion,  in  no 
sense  representing  a  national  faith.  So,  it  was 
without  legal  sanction.  Though  tolerated,  it  must 
understand  that  it  had  no  legal  right  to  be. 

Then,  too,  the  Christians,  confident  of  their 
faith  as  the  world's  one  religion,  were  singularly 
aggressive,  and  were  organizing  and  multiplying 
everywhere. 

Besides,  while  not  disloyal,  they  could  not  be 
described  as  patriotic.  They  cared  little  or  noth- 
ing for  politics.  Like  the  Stoics,  though  of  course 
from  a  different  point  of  view,  they  were  interested 
in  the  human  rather  than  in  the  national  idea.^^ 
They  felt  exceedingly  doubtful  as  to  the  propriety 
of  their  holding  civil  offices.  In  fact,  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  such  offices,  involved  a  recognition  of 
the  pagan  rites,  as,  for  example,  in  connection 
with  the  festivals  and  public  games.  It  was  not 
surprising,  therefore,  that  Christians  should  stand 

""They  [Christians]  dwell  in  their  own  country, 
but  simply  as  sojourners.  As  citizens  they  share  in 
all  things  with  others,  and  yet  endure  all  things  as  if 
foreigners.  Every  foreign  land  is  to  them  as  their 
native  country,  and  every  land  of  their  birth  as  a 
land  of  strangers."  "Epistle  to  Diognetus"  (A.D.  130 
c),  c.  V.  Cf.  Ramsay,  "Church  in  Roman  Empire," 
pp.  371-374. 


128  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

aloof  from  civil  affairs,  and,  though  truly  valua- 
ble citizens,  expose  themselves  to  the  suspicion  of 
being  enemies  to  the  emperor  and  the  Eoman  peo- 
ple. 

Hence  the  frequent  attitude  of  the  government 
toward  them  was  one  of  hostility.  It  was  the  age 
of  the  Persecutions.  In  most  cases  local,  separated 
also  by  peaceful  intervals  of  about  twenty  years' 
duration,  they  were  nevertheless  conducted  with 
Eoman  severity  and  persistence.  Tests  were  rigor- 
ously applied,  prominent  among  which  was  the  de- 
mand to  worship  the  statue  of  the  emperor.^^ 
The  State,  in  its  endeavor  to  destroy,  kept  sifting 
the  Church  as  wheat;  and  learned  to  its  chagrin 
that  the  grain  which  endured  the  test  had  lost 
none  of  its  vitality  and  fruitfulness. 

Ill 

Then,  the  great  reversal  of  the  Imperial  reli- 
gious attitude.  It  is  the  name  of  Constantine  the 
Great  that  will  always  be  taken  as  the  chief  sign 

""As  for  those  who  said  that  they  neither  were  nor 
ever  had  been  Christians,  I  thought  it  right  to  let 
them  go,  since  they  recited  a  prayer  to  the  gods  at  my 
dictation,  made  supplication  with  incense  and  wine 
to  your  statue,  which  I  had  ordered  to  be  brought  into 
court  for  the  purpose,  together  with  the  images  of 
the  gods,  and  moreover  cursed  Christ — not  one  of 
which  things  (so  it  is  said)  those  who  are  really 
Christians  can  be  made  to  do."  (Pliny's  "Letters  to 
Trajan,"  110  A.D.) 


Cliurch,  and  State  Ancient^  Mcdlmval  120 

of  this  stupendous  process  of  change.  For  while 
the  mighty  and  illustrious  emperor  still  wore  the 
pagan  title  of  Sovereign  Pontiff,  he  also  wished 
to  be  regarded  as  director  in  chief  of  the  Chris- 
tian institution.  "God  has  made  you,"  he  said  to 
certain  bishops,  "the  bishops  of  the  internal  affairs 
of  the  Church,  and  me  the  bishop  of  its  external 
affairs."  Accordingly  he  not  only  tolerated  the 
religion  of  Christ  along  with  other  religious 
faiths — "giving  to  the  Christians  and  all  others 
full  authority  to  follow  whatever  worship  any  man 
has  chosen"" — but  provided  for  the  support  of  the 
clergy,  convened  councils,  and  enforced  conciliar 
decrees  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law\  Other  reli- 
gions were  still  tolerated :  Christianity  was  fa- 
vored. 

It  was  toward  the  close  of  this  same  century 
that  by  an  edict  of  Tlieodosius  the  Great  (380 
A.D.)  the  term  "Catholic  Christians"  was  defined, 
and  all  non-Catholics  ordained  to  "bear  the  in- 
famy of  holding  heretical  dogmas,"  and  forbid- 
den to  assume  the  name  of  "churches."  The  offer- 
ing of  sacrifices  to  the  gods  was  made  a  capital 
crime.  Heresy,  Judaism,  and  paganism  were  to  be 
persecuted  out  of  existence. 

Now,  did  the  "Bride  of  Christ"  accept  this  re- 
versal of  the  Imperial  attitude  from  hostility  to 
toleration,  authoritative  patronage,  and  "estab- 
lishment," without  protest  or  disturbance  of  con- 

"Edict  of  Milan  (313  A.D.), 


130  Tke  Idea  of  the  Church 

science?     She  appears  to  have  accepted  it  with 
grateful  joy. 

The  bishops,  as  a  class,  had  shown  even  at  this 
early  day,  something  of  that  disposition  to  come 
to  a  good  understanding  with  the  State  that 
marked  their  administration  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
They  had  well  begun  to  be  what  they  afterwards 
came  very  decidedly  to  be — not  recluses,  nor  re- 
formers, nor  prophets,  but  conservative  adminis- 
trators. They  proclaimed  no  counsels  of  perfec- 
tion, but  brought  down  the  spirituality  of  the  gos- 
pel into  such  forms  as  could  be  laid  hold  of  by 
unregenerate  and  worldly  minds.  They  avoided 
needless  offense,  and  tried  to  keep  on  good  terms 
with  the  secular  power.  So,  under  episcopal  leader- 
ship the  Church  applauded  its  incorporation,  after 
the  manner  of  the  old  paganism,  into  the  Empire. 

But  the  exultation  was  more  jubilant  than  en- 
lightened. The  price  paid  for  this  type  of  the 
fax  romana  was  too  great.  Persecution  were  far 
better  than  corruption;  and  corruption  deep  and 
widespread  attended  this  first  Christian  national 
establishment. 

Let  us  not  indulge,  however,  in  too  severe  criti- 
cism of  the  bishops  and  their  followers.  It  did 
seem  like  an  advantage  (as  in  fact  it  was  an  im- 
mense advantage  in  some  respects)  that  Christian- 
ity should  have  the  sanction  of  the  Roman  govern- 
ment, which  meant  the  respect  and  favor  of  the 
civilized  world.    Supposing,  for  example,  that  the 


Church  and  State:  Ancient,  MedlcEval  131 

history  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  for  the 
last  sixteen  hundred  years  had  not  been  written, 
and  that  the  Empire  of  China  should  propose,  like 
Constantine  and  his  successors,  to  espouse  the 
Christian  religion,  as  against  all  others,  it  would 
doubtless  seem  to  many  fair  and  conscientious 
minds  entirely  reasonable  to  accept  the  offer.  The 
churches  of  the  fourth  century,  with  all  their  dis- 
astrous mistakes,  were  by  no  means  wholly  de- 
praved and  unreasonable  in  consenting  gratefully 
to  become  a  State  Church. 

IV 

N'or  did  this  ecclesiastical  subjection  to  the 
State  prove  to  be  a  finality.  Because,  for  one 
thing,  it  was  not  the  idea  of  churchmanship  that 
lay  germinant,  and  ready  at  the  first  opportunity 
to  clothe  itself  with  power,  in  the  papal  theory. 
This  theory,  as  it  came  to  be  disclosed,  demanded 
the  ascendency  of  the  Church  over  the  State — a 
Church  State,  or  theocracy,  not  a  State  Church. 

And  the  circumstances  of  the  time  favored  this 
more  churchly  idea.  The  Western  Empire  was 
now  (say,  at  the  close  of  the  fifth  century)  a  thing 
of  the  past.  The  Eastern  Empire,  with  Constan- 
tinople as  its  capital,  held  little  more  than  a  titu- 
lar sovereignty  over  the  West,  and  received  little 
more  than  a  nominal  allegiance  from  the  Pope.  In 
all  Western  Europe  it  was  a  chaotic,  embryonic 
time,  the  breaking  up  of  the  old  order,  before  the 


132  The  Idea  of  the  CJmreh 

modern  nations  had  taken  to  themselves  dignity 
and  power.  There  was  no  real  nation,  no  strong 
government,  no  enlightened  administration  of  law. 
There  were  vast  surging  populations,  ignorant  and 
ferocious,  yet  rich  in  the  elements  of  a  noble  man- 
hood. And  now  in  the  midst  of  them,  behold 
Christian  Eome,  inheritor  not  only  of  the  com- 
manding prestige  of  Imperial  Eome  but  also  of 
its  extraordinary  genius  of  administration — a  cen- 
ter of  order  and  authority.  It  represented,  there- 
fore, both  the  new  Christian  faith,  which  was  to 
supplant  the  various  forms  of  European  idolatry, 
and  that  Avhieh  all  the  better  minds  of  the  age 
were  feeling  after,  the  majesty  of  universal  Law. 
The  possession  of  the  East  must  be  foregone,  but 
what  an  open  door,  though  beset  with  terrible 
difficulties  and  dangers,  in  the  West. 

When,  therefore,  out  of  the  clash  and  confu- 
sion of  the  earlier  mediaevalism,  the  modern  na- 
tions began  to  emerge  and  take  form,  the  papacy, 
which  had  stood  all  the  time  not  indeed  for  na- 
tionality but  for  civilization  and  law,  was  unwill- 
ing that  they  should  ignore  its  control.  Had  not 
Imperial  Rome  been  ruler  of  the  world?  Much 
more  let  Christian  Rome  assert  her  supremacy, 
not  alone  over  the  churches  but  over  the  nations 
as  well.  Let  it  be  done  in  the  name  of  the  unseen 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  Let  the  whole 
world  become  one  theocracy  with  the  vicegerent 
of  God  on  the  throne. 


Church  and  State:  Ancient^  MedlcBval  133 

Meantime  (742-81-i  A.D.),  a  marvelous  com- 
manding figure  had  appeared  on  the  scene.  The 
founder  of  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire  stood  forth 
as  not  only  the  defender  but  also  the  chief  ruler 
of  the  Church  within  his  ever-widening  domin- 
ions. He  honored  the  Pope,  indeed,  as  the  spirit- 
ual head  of  Christendom ;  knelt  before  him  to  be 
crowned  "Charles  Augustus,  Emperor  of  the  Ro- 
mans/' and  proclaimed  "pious  and  peace-giving 
Emperor,  crowned  of  God" ;  and  as  a  reward  re- 
ceived the  powerful  papal  influence  in  consolida- 
ting and  controlling  his  new  Empire.  But  it  was 
far  from  Charles's  thought  to  acknowledge  the 
civil  supremacy  of  the  bishop  of  Eome.  He  him- 
self, in  his  own  realm,  was  supreme  over  both  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  affairs.  He  convened  Church 
councils;  introduced  laymen  (counts  and  barons) 
into  them,  contrary  to  the  established  order;  ap- 
pointed and  deposed  bishops;  through  a  council 
over  which  he  presided,  condemned  the  decrees  of 
the  Second  Council  of  Nice  concerning  image  wor- 
ship, although  the  Pope  had  given  them  his  sanc- 
tion ;  commanded  all  his  subjects  to  take  an  oath 
to  "do  no  treason  nor  violence  toward  the  holy 
Church,"  but  to  live  "according  to  their  strength 
and  knowledge  in  the  holy  service  of  God."  Charle- 
magne accepted  the  theocratic  idea  and  attempted 
to  embody  it  in  himself.^* 

"Hallam,  "Europe  During  the  Middle  Ages"  (fourth 
edition),  pp.  16,  17. 


134  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

In  that  rude  age  the  modern  striving  of  inde- 
pendent thought  and  research  was  unknown.  Peo- 
ple were  not  guided  in  their  conduct  by  abstract 
princijDles,  but  overawed  by  personality  and  fact. 
Equality  of  rights  and  opportunities  was  un- 
dreamed of.  Lawlessness,  on  the  one  hand,  or  sub- 
jection to  the  Iron  Hand  superstitiously  regarded 
as  the  instrument  of  a  supernatural  Will,  on  the 
other,  was  the  spirit  of  the  age.  Politically  and 
religiously,  it  was  the  same  spirit :  men  believed 
alike  in  the  Holy  Poman  Empire  and  in  the  Holy 
Roman  Catholic  Church  as  part  of  the  very  con- 
stitution of  the  world,  to  l)e  perpetuated  unto  the 
end  of  timc.^^ 

Tlie  papacy  was  prudent  enough  not  to  clash 
swords  with  the  Emperor.  And  subsequently  it 
derived  an  advantage  from  the  dismemberment  of 
the  Empire  imder  Charles's  weak  successors;  for 
now  it  could  undertake,  as  in  fact  it  did,  with  a 
better  prospect  of  success,  to  arbitrate  between 
political  contestants  and  subject  princes  to  its  con- 
trol. 

It  was  this  theory  of  a  universal  theocracy  that 
Pope  Hildebrand  determined  to  embody  in  his  ad- 
ministration (1073-1085).  Originating  long  be- 
fore his  day,  it  was  applied  by  Hildebrand  in  a 
more  clearly  defined  and  absolute  form  than  ever 
before.     He  distinctly  claimed  and  attempted  to 

"Bryce,  "Holy  Roman  Empire,"  pp.  52,  S9-91. 


church  and  State:  Ancient^  Medicevat  135 

exercise  the  authority  to  dethrone  any  king  in 
Christendom,  when,  in  his  judgment,  the  inter- 
ests of  religion  demanded  it.  Had  not  the  incom- 
parable Charles  himself  received  the  imperial 
crown  from  the  hand  of  Leo  the  Pope  ?  and  was  it 
not  the  accepted  idea  of  the  age  that  the  relation 
of  Church  and  State  was  to  be  likened  to  that  of 
soul  and  body?  Both  could  not  be  supreme;  and 
surely  the  soul  should  rule  the  body  rather  than 
be  ruled  by  it. 

Hildebrand,  failing,  despite  certain  brilliant  and 
successful  strokes,  in  his  gigantic  undertaking, 
died  in  exile.  It  was  not  until  a  hundred  years 
later,  under  the  pontificate  of  Innocent  III. 
(1198-1216),  that  the  papal  theocratic  power  cul- 
minated. For  in  the  actual  exercise  of  despotic 
power  over  princes,  this  talented  and  daring  ad- 
ministrator has  never  had  an  equal. 

But  neither  did  Innocent  succeed.  In  England, 
for  example,  when  King  John,  at  his  command, 
surrendered  his  crown,  humbly  receiving  it  back 
as  a  vassal  of  Eome,  the  barons  took  the  national 
cause  in  their  own  hands,  compelled  their  recreant 
king  to  sign  the  Great  Charter,  and  paid  no  heed 
to  the  papal  sentence  of  excommunication  when  it 
was  pronounced  against  them.  In  other  countries, 
likewise,  the  spirit  of  national  self-preservation 
kept  asserting  itself.  It  could  not  have  been  other- 
wise. The  papal  dream  of  political  power  over  the 
nations,  to  rule  them  from  the  throne  of  Peter 


136  The  Idea  of  the  CJi  arch 

with  a  rod  of  iron,  was  ever  impossible  of  realiza- 
tion. 

Not,  however,  that  it  has  been  theoretically 
abandoned.  According  to  the  Roman  theory,  the 
claim  of  Pius  X,,  though  unspoken,  must  be  essen- 
tially the  same  as  that  of  Gregory  VII.  The  dif- 
ference is  not  in  prerogative  but  in  circumstances. 
After  impregnable  defenses  have  been  built  about 
the  harbor's  mouth,  the  freedom  and  quiet  of  the 
city  is  no  proof  that  the  hostile  navy  has  quit  the 
seas. 

V 

As  to  the  Eastern  Church,  it  has  not  yet  de- 
parted from  its  position,  imder  the  early  Chris- 
tian emperors,  of  willing  acquiescence  in  the  rule 
of  the  State.  Never  did  it  adopt  the  theory  that 
unto  patriarch  or  pope  divine  authority  has  been 
granted  to  set  up  and  pluck  down  the  rulers  of  the 
nations.  But  on  the  other  hand  never  did  it  even 
seek  to  separate  itself  from  the  oversight  and  ju- 
risdiction of  the  civil  government.  What  the  pa- 
pac}^  rejected  the  patriarchate  has  always  stood 
for — a  national  ecclesiasticism. 

To  the  Latin  mind  catholicity  demanded  a  uni- 
versal organization  under  the  successor  of  Peter,  a 
single  autocratic  sovereign ;  to  the  Greek  mind 
catholicity  meant  the  historic  Church  as  united  in 
the  profession  of  the  same  faith,  "The  Holy  Or- 
thodox  Catholic  Apostolic  Oriental  Church."  To 
tlie  Latin  mind  the   Church  must  sro  forth  and 


Church  and  State:  Ancient^  Mediceval   137 

bring  all  nations  unto  the  obedience  of  the  faith; 
to  the  Greek  mind  the  Church  was  far  less  of  a 
missionary  society.  And  in  entire  harmony  with 
these  marks  of  Eastern  Christianity  has  been  the 
disposition  to  yield  itself  to  national  pressure  and 
come  into  a  close  quiescent  relation  with  the  State. 
It  is  seen  in  Greece  and  Eussia  in  the  present  day, 
just  as  it  was  seen  in  the  Greek  Empire  during 
the  whole  thousand  years  of  its  existence. 


Ill 

CHURCH  AND  STATE:  MODERN 

If  it  be  asked  what  change  was  effected  in  the 
relations  of  Church  and  State  by  the  Reformation 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  general  answer  is 
simple  enough.  There  was  no  essential  change. 
The  Reformation  hardly  dealt  with  the  question, 
except  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  Rome  and  reorgan- 
ize the  churches  in  alliance  with  the  State  alone. 
The  fundamental  idea  of  Constantine  in  making 
the  old  Roman  Empire  Christian,  and  of  Charle- 
magne in  making  the  new  Roman  Empire  "Holy," 
and  of  pontiffs  and  priests  in  all  their  welding  to- 
gether of  "the  crook  and  the  crown,"  persisted. 
Now  that  there  were  several  prominent  organic 
forms  of  Christianity  in  Western  Europe,  this 
idea  was  no  less  inflviential  than  before,  when  as 
yet  there  was  but  one.  Not  only  in  England, 
where  the  king  led  the  way  and  commanded  the 
people,  clergy  and  laity,  to  follow,  and  where  the 
motive  was  royal  supremacy  and  not  the  puriiica- 
tion  of  Christian  doctrine,  but  also  on  the  Conti- 
nent, where  scholars  and  teachers  led  the  way,  and 
the  motive  was  the  purification  of  Christian  doc- 
trine, the  Church  took  its  place  under  the  super- 
vision and  government  of  the  State. 
(138) 


Church  and  State:  Modern  139 

Though  the  English  Churchman  and  the  Puri- 
tan— to  take  a  conspicuous  example — differed  ir- 
reconcilably on  the  question  of  internal  ecclesias- 
tical polity,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  chronicle  their 
differences  in  bitter  controversies  and  bloody  war, 
yet  as  to  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  State  with 
reference  to  the  Church,  the  two  parties  were  in 
substantial  accord.  The  doctrine  of  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  and  of  the  Westminster  Confession 
were  here  essentially  the  same/  On  the  Conti- 
nent, also,  the  Lutheran  and  the  Eeformed  Church 
were,  as  to  this  question,  well  enough  agreed. 

Significant  and  resultful  was  the  Edict  of  the 
Diet  of  Speier  in  the  year  1526,  to  the  effect  that 
for  what  the  State  should  hold  as  religious  truth 
it  was  answerable  to  God  and  the  Emperor.  Be- 
cause, in  such  a  proclamation  the  State  was  im- 
plicitly recognized  as  judge  in  matters  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine  and  ritual. 

It  was  now  inevitable  that  the  churches,  which 
for  more  than  two  hundred  years  already  had  been 
depending  less  upon  the  Roman  Curia  and  more 
upon  the  State,  should,  under  Protestantism,  be- 
come more  national  than  ever.  In  fact,  they  now 
became  for  the  first  time  distinctly  national,  the 
sovereign  being  substituted  for  the  Pope.  Much 
of  the  authority  hitherto  exercised  by  the  bishops, 
and  even  greater   authority,   was   given   into   the 

'Thirty-nine  Articles,  Art.  37;  "Westminster  Con- 
fession," c.  XXIII.,  Sec.  3. 


140  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

hands  of  the  prince  with  his  council  or  parlia- 
ment. 

Prince  and  parliament  were  to  determine  both 
creed  and  forms  of  worship,  appoint  officers  of 
teaching  and  administration,  control  ecclesiastical 
property,  and  rule  in  the  house  of  God  as  if  it  were 
tlie  royal  palace  or  court. 


It  would  be  a  rash  conclusion,  however,  that  no 
need  of  reformation  at  this  point  was  felt.  The 
need  was  felt.  Luther  had  declared  that  the  sec- 
ular power  was  "to  secure  external  peace  and  or- 
der, and  to  protect  men,  their  persons  and  prop- 
erty, against  evil  doers,"  that  "heresy  is  something 
spiritual,  which  cannot  be  hewn  with  steel  or 
burned  with  fire,"  that  "whenever,  therefore,  the 
temporal  power  presumes  to  legislate  for  the  soul, 
it  encroaches."  But  more  significant  than  any 
individual  utterance,  even  of  the  first  great  Prot- 
estant leader,  is  the  doctrine  of  the  first  Protestant 
confession  of  faith — that  of  Augsburg — ^which  was 
set  forth  as  early  as  the  year  1530.  In  this  Lu- 
theran creed  it  is  asserted:  "The  administration 
of  civil  affairs  has  to  do  with  other  matters  than 
the  gospel  deals  with.  The  magistrate  does  not 
defend  men's  minds  but  their  bodies,  and  other 
corporeal  things,  against  manifest  injuries ;  and  he 
coerces  men  by  corporal  pains,  in  order  to  uphold 
civil  justice  and  peace.     Wherefore  the  ecclesias- 


Church  and  State:  Modern  14:1 

tical  and  civil  powers  are  not  to  be  confoiind- 
ed.'"- 

But  this  was  not  the  chief  matter  upon  whicli 
the  heart  of  the  Reformers  had  been  set.  They 
were  striving  to  put  aside  the  self-invented  me- 
diating hierarchy,  and  open  the  way  for  each  indi- 
vidual soul  to  come  directly  to  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Their  gospel,  like  that  of  Jesus  and  the  apostles, 
was  a  personal  message,  the  coming  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  as  righteousness  and  peace  within 
each  man's  heart.  Accordingly  they  were  occu- 
pied with  doctrines  of  grace  rather  than  politico- 
religious  questions.  Their  view  of  these  ques- 
tions had  not  clearly  defined  itself  nor  their  con- 
victions crystallized.  Here,  therefore,  they  were 
open  to  the  influence  of  circumstance  and  expe- 
diency. 

What  were  the  existing  circumstances  and  the 
apparent  expediency  ?  Rome  was  crushing  the  re- 
volt against  her  authority,  not  only  by  supernat- 
ural terrors  but  also,  wherever  possible,  by  the  sec- 
ular arm. '  But  in  some  states  Protestantism  was 
in  the  ascendency.  Might  it  not  in  like  manner 
use  the  secular  arm  for  defense  against  Rome — 
or  any  other  enemy?  So,  when  it  was  asked  Lu- 
ther what  should  be  done  when  both  Romish  and 
evangelicaL  teachers  were  propagating  their  tenets 
in  the  same  district,  he  replied  that  the  magistrate 

-Part  II.,  Art.  VII. 


142  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

ought  to  'Tiear  both  sides,  and  since  it  is  not  good 
that  in  one  parish  people  should  be  exposed  to 
contradictor}^  preaching,  he  should  order  to  be  si- 
lent which  ever  side  does  not  consist  with  the 
Scriptures."^ 

More  than  once  have  Christian  leaders  and 
teachers  erred  by  making  too  much  of  an  expe- 
dient, as  if  it  were  a  principle ;  but  the  error  in 
this  instance  was  the  degradation  of  a  principle 
to  the  level  of  expediency.  The  age  of  the  Refor- 
mation, moreover,  was  an  age  not  of  free  govern- 
ment but  of  political  absolutism.  The  thought 
that  the  people  should  be  ruled  with  the  strong 
hand,  rather  than  be  self-govorued,  and  that  the 
rights  of  minorities  might  be  disregarded,  was  fa- 
miliar to  men's  minds.  Luther,  with  all  his  indi- 
vidualism, held  no  high  opinion  of  the  competency 
of  "the  common  man" — such  at  least  as  he  was  in 
that  day — to  take  part  in  government,  either  civil 
or  ecclesiastic.  He  was  slow  to  put  responsibility 
upon  ignorant  and  turbulent  men  recently  won  to 
the  true  evangelical  faith,  as  the  Apostle  to  the 
Gentiles  did,  for  example,  in  the  Corinthian  con- 
gregation. And  this  depreciative  opinion  was  con- 
firmed by  the  excesses  of  the  Anabaptists  and  of 
the  Peasants  in  their  War. 

'"Such  a  concession  was  of  course  fatal."  (Innes, 
"Church  and  State,"  p.  131.)  Cf.  Kostlin,  "Life  of 
Luther"  (English  translation),  pp.  312-ol6;  Giesler, 
"Church  History,"  Vol.  IV.,  Sec.  46. 


Church  and  State:  Modern  143 

Indeed,  the  complete  claim  of  religious  libert}^ 
was  new  and  strange  to  the  ruling  ideas  of  the  age. 
That  active  and  persistent  heretics  ought  to  be 
put  to  death  was  taught  by  eminent  theologians, 
and  doubtless  generally  received  as  a  true  Chris- 
tian doctrine. 

As  to  Calvin,  while  insisting  that  the  Church 
in  the  administration  of  discipline  must  stand  in- 
dependent of  the  State,  and  suffering  banishment 
for  his  convictions,  he  also  held  that  a  Christian 
State  should  punish  offenses  against  religion.  x\nd 
so  were  they  punished  by  the  Genevan  magistracy. 

How,  then,  did  the  intolerance  practiced  under 
the  Lutheran  or  the  Calvinian  teaching  differ  from 
the  intolerance  that  had  long  been  practiced  with 
the  most  cruel  consistency  under  the  Eoman  teach- 
ing ?  The  essential  difference  had  reference  to  the 
seat  of  authoritative  judgment  in  religion.  The 
Eoman  Catholic  State  was  to  restrain  or  punish 
those  whom  the  Church  condemned;  the  Protest- 
ant State  was  to  judge  for  itself  whom  to  restrain 
or  punish. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances,  then,  that  the 
work  of  reformation  was  arrested  at  a  vital  point, 
and  the  dogma  of  religious  coercion  carried  over 
from  Eome  to  Geneva,  Augsburg,  London. 

II 

But  protests  were  heard.  Some  Christian  be- 
lievers could  not  conscientiously  accept  the  doc- 


1.4:4:  The  Idea  of  the  Chitreh 

trines  and  usages  of  the  State  Church.  The  very 
first  of  the  tAvelve  just  and  reasonable  demands 
that  brought  on  the  Peasants'  War  was  that  they 
might  liave  liberty  to  "choose  their  own  pastors  to 
preach  the  gospel"  (and  the  second,  that  they 
might  have  the  privilege  of  paying  "a  tithe  of 
grain,  partly  for  the  pastor's  support,  and  the  rest 
to  the  2:)oor'").  But  the  most  notable  representa- 
tives of  the  principle  of  full  religious  libert}''  were 
the  Anabaptists  (leaving  out  of  consideration  such 
of  their  number  as  were  really  anarchists)  and  the 
Independents.  They  not  only  formed  congrega- 
tions of  their  own,  contrary  to  the  established  or- 
der, but  denied  that  any  such  order  had  a  right  to 
exist.  The  Church,  they  urged,  should  keep  herself 
free  from  any  alliance  whatever  with  the  State. 

]^ow  if  one  should  inquire  whether  at  the  heart 
of  this  protest  lay  the  principle  of  self-preserva- 
tion rather  than  of  religious  liberty, — whetlier,  if 
these  advocates  of  the  free  Church  system  had 
constituted  a  vast  majority  instead  of  a  hopelessly 
small  minority  of  the  Christian  people  of  their 
respective  countries,  they  too,  in  accord  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  would  have  approved  of  the  pun- 
ishment of  dissent  with  civil  pains  and  penalties, — 
it  would  simply  be  a  question  in  the  air.  We  know 
that  these  men  Avere  true  believers  in  Christ  and 
reverent  readers  of  the  Scriptures;  but  where  is 
the  analyst  of  character  who  could  show  just  the 
gradation  of  motives  by  which  they  were  actuated  ? 


CJvurch  and  State:  Modern  145 

Little  marvel,  however,  that  with  the  New  Tes- 
tament as  the  one  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  sin- 
cere seekers  of  truth  should  come  to  believe  in  the 
freedom  of  the  Church.  And  in  this  particular 
case  the  circumstances  were  such  as  to  promote 
rather  than  to  check  the  clearing  of  this  convic- 
tion in  their  own  minds,  and  its  confession  before 
the  world.  Accordingly  through  many  severe  per- 
secutions these  Christian  confessors  not  only  sur- 
vived but  increased  in  wisdom  and  in  strength. 
Their  successors  constitute  some  of  the  mightiest 
evangelical  forces  of  the  present  day. 

Ill 

In  all  State  Churches  the  power  of  the  civil  gov- 
ernor is  subject  to  substantially  the  same  delimita- 
tion. He  is  not  authorized  to  preach  the  gospel, 
to  administer  the  sacraments,  to  pronounce  abso- 
lution, or  to  ordain  to  the  ministry.  These  are 
maintained  as  purely  ecclesiastic  functions.  But 
outside  this  inmost  sphere  there  is  little  or  noth- 
ing that  does  not  fall  within  the  power  of  the  secu- 
lar, or  "temporal,"  officers  of  the  State. 

The  Church  of  England  is  a  good  example.  Its 
legislative  bodies  are  the  Convocations  of  Canter- 
bury and  York,  which  consist  exclusively  of  cler- 
ical members.  But  Convocation  cannot  assemble 
without  a  writ  of  the  Crown.  Nor  do  its  acts  have 
any  validity  till  confirmed  by  the  national  Parlia- 
ment. Then  only  they  become  laws.  As  a  matter 
10 


146  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

of  fact,  the  Convocation  of  Canterbury  was  pro- 
rogued by  the  king  in  1717  and  not  permitted  to 
meet  again  till  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury* With  the  king,  as  head  of  the  Church,  rests 
also  the  power  to  appoint  bishops  to  their  office 
and  to  sit  as  supreme  judge  in  all  cases  of  appeal. 
There  can  be  no  discipline  of  Church  members,  ex- 
cept under  the  supervision  and  final  authority  of 
the  civil  courts. 

To  most  Christian  minds  such  a  form  of  Church 
organization  must  seem,  at  least  until  the  .subtle 
power  of  custom  has  softened  or  disguised  its  nat- 
ural features,  painfully  unfit.  That  a  legislature 
composed  of  men  of  all  manner  of  religious  be- 
liefs and  of  no  religious  belief  at  all,  or  a  king, 
whether  hereditary  or  elective,  whether  a  believer 
or  an  unbeliever,  whether  saint,  sensualist,  weak- 
ling, or  criminal,  should  sit  supreme  to  control 
the  Church  life  of  Christ's  redeemed  Dcoplc  is 
something  worse  than  a  caricature  of  spiritual 
rule  and  government.'^ 

Comparing  the  papal  and  the  State  Church  theo- 

*Perry,  "History  of  Church  of  England,"  p.  585  ff. 

^"To  acquiesce  in  the  establishment  of  National 
Churches  .  .  .  must  always  appear,  when  scru- 
tinized, contrary  to  the  nature  of  a  religious  body,  op- 
posed to  the  genius  of  Christianity,  defensible,  when 
capable  of  defense  at  all,  only  as  a  temporary  re- 
source in  the  face  of  insuperable  difficulties."  (Bryce, 
"Holy  Roman  Empire,"  p.  95.)  Cf.  R.  W.  Dale,  "Fel- 
lowship With  Christ,"  i.'i).  200-207. 


Church  and  State:  Modern  147 

ry,  one  can  hardly  fail  to  note  a  difEerence  in  the 
relation  of  idea  and  fact.  With  the  papacy  the 
idea  is  first:  the  bishop  of  Rome  claims  to  be  en- 
throned of  God  to  rule  the  nations.  Then,  under 
the  influence  of  this  idea,  their  actual  subjection 
to  his  sway  occurs.  With  the  State  Church,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  fact  is  first.  The  civil  ruler, 
whether  a  Constantino,  a  Charlemagne,  or  a  Henry 
VIII.,  finds  himself  in  a  situation  where  by  pat- 
ronage and  rulership  of  the  Church  he  may  great- 
ly strengthen  his  government;  the  Church  at  the 
same  time  trembles  at  the  thought  of  resisting, 
and  sees  large  apparent  advantage  in  accepting, 
the  will  of  the  sovereign  power :  and  so  the  politico- 
ecclesiastic  alliance  becomes  a  fact.  Then,  in  jus- 
tification of  the  fact,  the  idea  defines  itself  and 
the  supporting  arguments  are  ofiered. 

The  main  affirmative  argument  is  found  in  the 
example  of  the  Church  of  Israel.  But  it  has  also 
been  urged  that  as  every  commonwealth  ought  to 
provide  the  people  with  the  means  of  living  well, 
it  must  furnish  them  with  the  ordinances  of  reli- 
gion, without  which  their  highest  welfare  is  im- 
possible ;  that  it  is  not  to  be  believed  that  a  pagan 
sovereign,  whose  authority  in  religion  is  supreme, 
should  be  required  to  resign  such  authority,  and 
in  respect  to  religion  become  "subject  to  his  sub- 
jects," in  the  case  of  a  national  conversion  to 
Christianity ;  that  a  nation,  according  to  the  Chris- 
tian conception,  is  both  State  and  Church — two 


148  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

accidents  in  one  substance,  somewhat  as  a  fire  may 
give  both  light  and  heat,  or  as  a  man  may  be  both 
a  schoolmaster  and  a  physician;  that  as  the  laws 
of  a  nation  are  the  best  attainable  expression  of  its 
own  will,  there  is  reason  and  propriety  in  its  ex- 
pressing its  will  in  the  interests  of  religion  as  well 
as  in  less  important  interests;  that  an  established 
system  of  religious  teaching  is  a  very  proper  con- 
cern of  civil  government;  that  while  the  Old  Tes- 
tament authorizes,  the  New  Testament  does  not 
forbid,  the  union  of  Church  and  State. 

The  whole  question  may  be  said  to  turn  upon  a 
single  fundamental  definition.  If  a  church  of  Je- 
sus Christ  be  one  and  the  same  thing  with  a  na- 
tion whose  prevailing  religious  belief  is  Chris- 
tianity— while  many  of  its  people  make  no  per- 
sonal confession,  in  creed  or  conduct,  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  or  even  actually  disbelieve  it — the 
two  institutions  being  in  reality  one,  their  govern- 
ment must  indeed  be  one  and  undivided.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  church  be  a  congregation  of  per- 
sonal followers  of  Jesus  Christ — "a  congregation 
of  faithful  men,  in  which  the  pure  word  of  God  is 
preached  and  the  sacraments  duly  administered" 
— then  it  is  impossible  of  justification  that  its 
creed  and  liturgy  should  be  determined  and  its 
pastors  appointed  by  the  State.  "The  Parlia- 
ment." says  Richard  Hooker,  "is  not  so  merely 
temporal  a  court  as  if  it  might  meddle  with  only 


Church  and  State:  Modern  149 

nothing  but  leather  and  wool."^  Which  is  no 
truer  a  saying;  than  that  the  Parliament  is  not  so 
spiritual  a  court  as  if  it  might  meddle  with  the 
faith  and  the  forms  of  worship  and  government 
of  a  congregation  of  Jesus  Christ. 

IV 

It  was  not  in  the  Old  World  that  the  now  famil- 
iar principle  of  the  free  Church  was  to  be  sub- 
jected to  the  first  fair  and  unhindered  test.  It 
was  in  a  sparsely  settled  but  resourceful  country, 
soon  to  become  the  seat  of  an  enterprising  and 
powerful  nation,  over-sea. 

The  representatives  of  the  American  people  who 
met  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1787  were 
acquainted  with  the  practical  effect  of  State 
Churchism.  They  had  known  it  not  only  his- 
torically but  in  their  own  day  and  on  their  own 
soil.  For  with  one  exception  it  had  appeared,  to 
a  larger  or  smaller  extent,  in  the  government  of 
all  the  colonies.'^  Even  Pennsylvania  had  so  far 
departed  from  the  "holy  experiment"  (which  it- 
self did  not  offer  perfect  religious  liberty)  of  its 
Quaker  founder  as  to  require  public  officers  to 
subscribe  their  belief  in  the  Holy  Trinity  and  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  and  reject  the  most 

^"Ecclesiastical  Polity,"  Bk.  VIII.,  in  which  the  ar- 
gument for  the  State  Church  is  strongly  presented. 

"'Cambridge  Platform,"  c.  XVII.  8;  Ladd,  "Prin- 
ciples of  Church  Polity,"  pp.  135,  136,  139. 


150  7'he  Idea  of  the  Church 

prominent  Roman  Catholic  rites;  and  Maryland, 
called  the  ''land  of  the  sanctuary,"  because  of  its 
offering  an  asylum  alike  to  Romanists,  Anglicans, 
and  Puritans,  officially  denounced  the  punishment 
of  death  against  disbelievers  in  the  Trinity,^  and 
subsequently  harassed  with  unjust  restrictions  the 
Catholic  coreligionists  of  its  honorable  founder. 
The  little  colony  of  Rhode  Island  alone  granted 
full  religious  liberty.^ 

And  on  this  side  the  sea,  as  in  the  mother  coun- 
tries, the  course  of  the  State  Church  had  been 
marked  by  fines,  deprivation  of  office,  whippings, 
and  imprisonments,  for  conscience'  sake. 

In  the  New  England  Colonies  the  theocratic 
idea  was  strongly  represented.  Shall  we  con- 
demn it?  Is  it  not,  properly  speaking,  the  true 
idea  of  all  government  ?  The  Pilgrims  and  Puri- 
tans said:  The  one  supreme  ruler,  alike  of  the  in- 
dividual life,  the  home,  and  the  state,  is  God 
himself ;  there  is  a  will  of  God  as  to  how  a  people 
shall  be  governed ;  and  it  is  the  business  of  the  law- 
maker and  magistrate  to  embody  that  will  in  the 
laws  and  their  administration.  Here  is  a  confes- 
sion of  faith  which  no  believer  in  the  God  of 
the  Bible,  who  is  the  God  of  our  whole  human 
life,  will  controvert.     Here  is  an  ideal  for  every 

*Elson,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  p.  80. 

^Bancroft,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  I.,  c. 
Xni.;  Cobb,  "Rise  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America," 
p.  436. 


Church  and  State:  Modern  15l 

citizen  and  every  legislator  to  keep  continually  be- 
fore him.  The  error  of  these  colonists  was  not  in 
holding  such  a  faith  but  in  tlieir  interpretation  of 
its  requirements.  They  identified  their  own  aus- 
tere views  of  Christian  conduct  with  the  will  of 
God,  and  believed  it  to  be  in  accordance  with  that 
same  divine  will  that  men  should  be  forced  by  civil 
pains  and  penalties  to  conform  to  these  views. 
Here  was  confusion  and  many  an  evil  work. 

The  State  Church,  then,  so  far  from  promoting 
reverence  for  either  Church  or  State,  seemed  to 
the  American  mind  a  part  of  the  Old  World  tyr- 
anny ;  and  therefore  in  the  name  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty  it  was  condemned.  The  Federal 
Constitution,  in  its  sixth  article,  was  made  to  for- 
bid that  any  "religious  test  shall  ever  be  required 
as  a  qualification  for  any  office  or  public  trust 
under  the  United  States" ;  and  in  the  first  amend- 
ment it  was  enacted  that  "Congress  shall  make  no 
law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or 
prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof." 

These  enactments,  it  will  be  seen,  do  not  forbid 
the  several  states,  as  such,  from  legislating  on  the 
subject  of  religion.  As  late  as  the  year  1833  the 
people  of  Massachusetts  were  taxed  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  Congregational  churches.  But  in  none 
of  the  states  is  there  now  an  established  Church,  a 
tax  for  the  maintenance  of  religion,  or  any  re- 
straint on  the  freedom  of  worship. 

It  was  the  first  instance,  in  the  history  of  the 


152  The  Idea  of  tJie  Cliurch 

world,  of  a  nation  organizing  itself  upon  the 
strictly  defined  basis  of  the  entire  distinctness  of 
Church  and  State;  and  many  were  the  prophecies 
of  ill,  at  home  and  especially  abroad,  that  it 
evoked.  An  unbelieving  and  immoral  nation  was 
confidently  predicted  as  the  result.  But  surely 
the  unbelief  was,  first  of  all,  in  the  minds  of  those 
Avho  had  so  little  faith  in  the  Church  of  Christ  as 
to  suppose  it  dependent  for  any  large  and  perma- 
nent success  upon  the  civil  power.  They  were  the 
skeptics. 

V 
Standing  together  on  the  principles  of  non- 
alliance  and  friendly  cooperation,  what  may  the 
Church  and  the  State  be  expected  to  do  each  for 
the  other?  The  Church,  as  the  interpreter  of  hu- 
man life  in  all  its  interests  and  institutions,  will 
interpret  the  State — teaching  the  divine  origin 
and  purpose  of  civil  government,  with  the  conse- 
quent duty  of  universal  submission  to  its  author- 
ity. The  Church,  with  her  Bible  and  her  Christian 
faith,  is  a  school  for  the  education  of  the  sense 
of  selfhood,  through  which  the  free  and  self-gov- 
erning State  is  made  possible.  The  Church  will 
inculcate  those  principles  of  morality  and  religion 
that  are  the  surest  warrant  of  a  nation's  strength 
and  perpetuity.  She  will  circulate  the  Bible;  she 
will  guard  the  integrity  of  the  family;  she  will 
protest,  in  the  name  of  the  Son  of  Man,  against 
the  oppression  of  the  poor,  against  all  oppression, 


Church  and  State:  Modevn  153 

greed,  and  injustice,  whether  as  between  class  and 
class  or  between  individual  and  individual,  and 
whether  within  or  without  the  forms  of  law;  she 
will  promote  that  order  of  things  in  which  each 
man  will  have  opportunity  to  develop  his  own 
powers  and  to  live  his  own  personal  and  human 
(not  merely  animal)  life.  The  Church  will  do 
these  things,  indeed,  with  the  motive  of  imme- 
diate Christly  service  to  men ;  but  in  doing  them 
she  will  render  the  State  the  truest  possible  serv- 
ice. The  State,  on  her  part,  Avill  protect  the 
Church  in  the  possession  of  property  and  in  the 
enjoyment  of  freedom  in  administration  and  wor- 
ship. 

Further  than  this  neither  may  be  required  to 
go,  in  the  fulfillment  of  obligation  to  the  other. 

It  does  not  follow  that  a  national  government 
must  needs  be  non-religious  or  non-Christian. 
Just  how  much  it  ought  to  do  for  its  people,  in- 
deed, is  a  question  which  need  not  here  be  con- 
sidered. Most  thinkers  on  the  subject  will  prob- 
ably agree  that  it  ought,  in  some  measure,  to 
guarantee  them  not  only  the  right  but  also  the  op- 
portunity of  the  "pursuit  of  happiness.""  But 
waiving  the  questions  at  issue  between  individual- 
ism and  paternalism  (and  it  might  be  added,  "fra- 
ternalism"),  not  undertaking  to  decide  how  far 
civil  government  may  justly  and  wisely  go  in  pro- 

^"Nash,  "Genesis  of  the  Social  Conscience,"  p.  280. 


154  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

viding  asylums,  educational  institutions,  mail  fa- 
cilities, public  roads,  improved  harbors,  enlarge- 
ment and  equalization  of  industrial  opportunities, 
or  in  any  way  caring  for  the  general  welfare  of  its 
citizens,  beyond  the  mere  defense  of  their  legal 
rights,  it  may  unquestionably  claim  authority  to 
do  whatever  may  be  necessary  to  its  own  preser- 
vation. And  the  recognition  of  the  religious  needs 
of  the  people  is  one  such  necessary  measure.  At 
least  the  attempt  to  establish  and  maintain  a  gov- 
ernment in  utter  disregard  of  the  Supreme  Ruler 
and  Judge  would  be  a  new  and  perilous  experi- 
ment. Accordingly  the  court  of  justice  may  ad- 
minister oaths;  the  legislature  may  be  opened 
with  prayer ;  the  army  and  navy,  with  their  train- 
ing schools,  may  have  religious  services  conducted 
at  the  public  expense. 

Upon  the  same  ground  may  be  rested  the  claim 
of  the  civil  Sabbath.  Providing  the  people  of  the 
commonwealth  with  the  opportunity  of  needed 
physical  rest,  and  guarding  the  day  of  public 
worship  from  such  desecration  as  would  defeat  the 
moral  upbuilding  which  is  included  in  its  objeci, 
the  State  is  taking  measures  for  its  own  protec- 
tion. 

VI 

More  nearly  a  storm  center  is  the  politico-reli- 
gious question  of  the  teaching  of  religion  in  the 
public  schools.  As  an  abstract  question,  however, 
it  mav  be  believed  to  stand  or  fall  with  that  of  the 


Church  and  State:  Moder'n  155 

public  school  itself.  A  democratic  government 
claims  the  right  to  tax  all  citizens  for  the  educa- 
tion of  children,  on  the  ground  that  a  democracy 
finds  education  necessary  to  secure  its  own  ends : 
it  is  essential  to  good  citizenship,  and  hence  to  the 
maintenance  of  free  institutions.  But  what  edu- 
cation is  thus  necessary?  jSTot  merely  that  of  the 
intellect,  but  equally,  as  all  civilization,  past  and 
present,  has  shown,  that  of  the  heart  and  con- 
science.^^ Indeed,  vice,  not  ignorance,  is  the  chief 
jDcril.  Lack  of  self-control  and  of  self -giving,  not 
lack  of  letters,  has  wrought  the  doom  of  the  buried 
civilizations.  Social  efficiency  is  the  mightiest 
factor  in  developing  the  life  of  any  nation.    When 

""As  the  right  of  sustenance  is  of  equal  date  with 
birth,  so  the  right  of  intellectual  and  moral  training 
begins  at  least  as  early  as  when  children  are  ordina- 
rily sent  to  school.  At  that  time,  then,  by  the  irre- 
pealable  law  of  Nature,  every  child  succeeds  to  so 
much  more  of  the  property  of  the  community  as  is 
necessary  for  his  education.  He  is  to  receive  this, 
not  in  the  form  of  lands,  or  of  gold  and  silver,  but  in 
the  form  of  knowledge  and  a  training  to  good  habits. 
This  is  one  of  the  steps  in  the  transfer  of  property 
from  a  present  to  a  succeeding  generation.  .  .  . 
Certainly,  in  a  republican  government,  the  obligation 
of  the  predecessors,  and  the  right  of  the  successors, 
extend  to  and  embrace  the  means  of  such  an  amount 
of  education  as  will  prepare  each  individual  to  per- 
form all  the  duties  which  devolve  upon  him  as  a  man 
and  a  citizen.  It  may  go  further  than  this  point: 
certainly,  it  cannot  fall  short  of  it."  (Horace  Mann, 
Tenth  Annual  Report.) 


156  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

certain  pupils  of  a  great  American  school-teacher, 
being  asked,  "What  are  jou  here  to  learn?"  an- 
swered, "To  behave  well,"  they  spoke  far  more 
wisely  than  they  knew. 

Every  human  society  must  find  in  the  law  of 
love  the  expression  of  its  central  truth,  the  guar- 
antee of  its  permanence,  and  the  line  of  its  prog- 
ress. That  which,  at  its  highest  point  of  expres- 
sion, is  the  mind  of  Christ  proves  to  be  the  quick- 
ening spirit  of  all  organized  or  associated  life. 
A  State,  therefore,  in  making  provision  for  the  re- 
ligious and  moral  training  of  its  citizens  in  the 
formative  period  of  their  lives,  may  undoubtedly 
be  regarded  as  providing  for  its  own  security. 

Is  it  asserted  that  morals  but  not  religion  shall 
be  taught  in  the  public  school?  The  reply  must 
be,  that,  in  the  absence  of  faith  in  God,  the  moral 
life  will  lack  the  illumination  and  support  which 
its  successful  maintenance  demands. 

But  what  shall  be  said  of  a  State  which,  on  ac- 
count of  the  division  of  its  citizenship  into  certain 
great  sections  along  strongly  marked  lines  of  reli- 
gious faith — say,  Protestant,  Roman  Catholic,  Jew- 
ish— feels  constrained  to  leave  the  Bible  and  all 
prescribed  forms  of  worship  out  of  its  schools  ?^^ 

"The  law  of  the  several  states  differs  widely  on  the 
subject  of  the  Bible  in  the  school.  In  some  states  it  is 
required,  in  some  prohibited,  in  some  permitted.  "In 
1896  reports  on  this  subject  were  gathered  from  nine 
hundred  and  forty-six  superintendents,   representing 


Church  and  State:  Modern  157 

Does  it  thereby  necessarily  leave  religion  out? 
This  does  not  follow.  In  the  whole  management 
of  the  school  the  ethical  and  religious  view  point 
may  be  taken',  and  must  be  taken  if  the  education 
offered  is  worthy  of  the  name.  The  truths  of  the 
Divine  Fatherhood  and  Christ's  law  of  love,  or 
t^hristian  morality,  may  be  taught  both  directly 
and  indirectly.  Teachers  may  be  chosen  in  whose 
lives  these  truths  are  exemplified,  and  thus  the 
personality  of  the  teacher,  a  far  more  potent  influ- 
ence than  all  his  formal  words,  be  enlisted  in  be- 
half of  the  pupil's  moral  and  spiritual  devel- 
opment. So,  without  the  inculcation  of  specific 
dogmas,  the  school,  if  it  will,  may  reenforce  the 
teaching  of  the  Church  and  the  Christian  home.^^ 
It  may  go  further.  It  may  prescribe  a  text- 
book on  religion  and  morals  for  the  use  of  its  pu- 
pils. A  book  of  this  character,  teaching  the  father- 
hood of  God,  the  brotherhood  of  man,  the  divine 
value  of  life,  and  Christian  morality — and  con- 
sisting largely  of  passages  of  Holy  Scripture — 
could  give  no  just  offense  to  any  religious  body.^* 

all  parts  of  the  country.  Of  this  number  four  hundred 
and  fifty-four  reported  the  Bible  as  read  in  all  their 
schools,  two  hundred  and  ninety-five  reported  it  as 
read  in  part  of  their  schools,  and  one  hundred  and 
ninety-seven  reported  it  as  read  in  none  of  their 
schools."  ("Proceedings  of  the  Religious  Education 
Association,"  1903,  pp.  132,  133.) 

"Coe,  "Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,"  p.  354. 

""If  any  religious  instruction  at  all  is  given  in  the 


158  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Such  distinct  and  systematic  teaching  of  the  most 
important  of  all  truth,  in  every  school  curriculum, 
is  imperatively  called  for;  and  present  indications 
justify  the  hope  that  in  the  not  distant  future  the 
demand  will  be  met.^^ 

The  embodied  principle  of  "a  self-supporting 
and  self-governing  Christianit}',  in  independent 
but  friendly  relation  to  the  civil  government,"  has 
been  described  as  America's  chief  distinctive  con- 
tribution to  Christian  history.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  not  until  so  late  a  period  as  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  in  a  new,  crude  country, 

public  schools,  it  must  be  of  that  broad,  universal 
kind  which  is  practically  held  in  common  by  all  of 
our  people — Jews  and  Christians,  Protestants  and 
Catholics,  Church  members  and  adherents  of  no  reli- 
gious sect.  ...  I  for  one  believe  that  there  are 
such  religious  truths,  and  that  it  is  possible  to  teach 
them,  not  only  without  offense,  but  to  the  edification 
of  all.  .  .  .  V/hat,  then,  are  these  religious  truths 
that  should  be  taught  in  the  public  schools?  1.  Belief 
in  God.  .  .  .  This  belief  carries  with  it  the  doctrine 
of  the  fatherhood  of  God.  ...  2.  The  brotherhood 
of  man.  The  fatherhood  of  God  presupposes  the 
brotherhood  of  man.  ...  3.  The  value  of  life.  .  .  . 
If  they  [children]  understand  that  every  act,  every 
thought,  and  every  aspiration  lifts  them  to  a  higher 
plane — near  God — or  drags  them  down,  then  living 
has  a  new  significance.  ...  4.  The  moral  order  of 
the  universe."  (Dr.  C.  H.  Thurber,  in  "Proceedings 
of  the  Religious  Education  Association,"  1903,  pp. 
140-142.)     The  whole  address  is  noteworthy. 

""There  ought  to  be  a  text-book  of  Bible  study  and 


Church  and  State:  Modern  159 

should  such  a  contribution  to  the  power  and  prog- 
ress of  the  Church  have  been  made.  For  the  prin- 
ciple itself,  now  that  it  has  been  exemplified,  seems 
clear  enough :  only  in  its  varied  applications,  as  in 
the  applications  of  many  another  great  principle, 
will  any  fringe  of  obscurity  be  found  to  test  the 
wisdom  and  strength  of  its  administrators.^"  In 
fact,  however,  this  '^new  chapter  in  the  history  of 
Christianity"  cannot  be  claimed  as  a  modern  dis- 
covery. Only  through  neglect  or  obscuration  of 
the  New  Testament  could  it  have  failed  of  recog- 
nition throughout  the  course  of  the  Christian  era. 
It  is  a  rediscovery. 

readings  for  use  in  public  schools.  It  is  no  irrever- 
ence for  Scripture  to  make  selections  from  it.  Every 
minister  does  that  every  Sunday.  Many  parts  of  this 
collection  of  books  (biblia)  are  not  adapted  either  to 
reading  aloud  or  to  study  by  immature  minds.  But 
the  great  core  and  substance  of  the  Bible,  Old  Testa- 
ment and  New,  is  approved  by  all  intelligent  Chris- 
tians and  could  be  used  in  public  schools  with  no  of- 
fense to  any  reasonable  man.  Immortality  awaits  the 
judicious  editor  of  such  a  text-book  Bible."  (The 
Christian  Advocate,  Nashville,  November  2,  1906.) 

"The  recent  violent  separation  of  Church  and  State 
in  France  presents  a  sharp  contrast  with  the  peaceful 
provision  for  their  separateness  in  the  American  Con- 
stitution. Yet  the  breaking  of  a  harmful  alliance  even 
though  it  should  not  be  done  in  the  perfect  spirit  of 
wisdom  and  equity,  may  result  eventually  in  the  good 
of  both  parties;  and  it  is  no  unreasonable  hope  that 
the  withdrawal  of  State  patronage  from  the  Churches 
of  France  will  serve,  not  injure,  the  cause  of  religion. 


IV 

THE  CHL'RCHES  AND  THE  CHURCH: 
DIVISION 

Freedom  is  not  for  its  own  sake.  It  serves  as 
a  condition  of  some  larger  realization  of  unity, 
service,  life.  Like  space  in  the  material  world,  it 
is  simpl}^  room  to  he.  Misimproved,  it  becomes 
more  bane  than  blessing.  Better  be  kept  a  per- 
petual child  under  tutors  and  governors  than  mis- 
use, to  the  destruction  of  oneself  and  others,  the 
liberty  that  comes  with  approaching  manhood.  If 
there  be  a  child  race,  the  same  principle  would  be 
applicable  to  that  race.  If  there  be  a  child  Church, 
here  too  the  principle  would  apply.  Was  not  an- 
cient Israel  such  a  Church?  But  shall  this  be 
said  also  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Con- 
gregation of  the  Spirit  of  truth  ? 

As  noted  on  a  preceding  page,  the  liberty  which 
is  given  in  Christian  freedom  includes  the  right 
to  change  or  discontinue  existing  forms  of  wor- 
ship, and  to  adopt  new  forms,  as  may  be  judged 
expedient,  "according  to  the  varied  exigencies  of 
times  and  occasions."  Not,  of  course,  to  do  away 
with  congregational  worship  itself,  but  to  regu- 
late its  outward  expression.  The  divine  ordinance 
must  be  perpetuated :  its  expressions  are  variable. 
(160) 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  161 

"It  is  a  most  valuable  part  of  that  blessed  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,"  says  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  "that  in  his  worship 
different  forms  and  usages  may  without  offense  be 
allowed,  provided  the  substance  of  the  faith  be 
kept  entire." 

In  like  manner,  the  Church,  holding  as  an  or- 
dinance of  God  the  power  of  government,  has  been 
intrusted  with  the  liberty  to  regulate  tlie  forms 
in  which  it  shall  be  put  forth.^  But  great  have 
been  the  abuses  of  Christian  liberty  in  many 
spheres ;  and  among  others,  in  this.  Enfranchised 
by  Him  who  said,  "Neither  be  ye  called  masters, 
for  one  is  your  Master,  even  Christ,"  the  servants 
of  the  One  Master  have  not  always  been  faitliful 
and  wise  to  rule  themselves. 

The  divine  right  of  kings,  once  so  powerful  a 
sentiment  even  in  the  freedom-loving  'English 
race,  is  no  longer  credible.  The  world  seems  stead- 
ily coming  to  believe  it  to  be  God's  will  that  a 
nation  should  govern  itself  according  to  the  meas- 
ure of  its  ability.  The  divine  right  of  bishops, 
however,  is  asserted  as  vigorously  as  ever.  Yet  the 
proof  is  lacking.  Any  one  definite  form  of  Church 
polity  is  equally  unable  with  the  civil  monarchy 
to  establish  its  claim,  at  the  bar  of  Scripture, 
reason,  or  history,  as  an  ordinance  of  world-wide 
and  God-given  authority. 

Nevertheless  just  as  in  the  State  there  is  the 

'See  above,  pp.  38,  39,  n. 
11 


162  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

crime  of  rebellion,  so  in-  the  Church  there  is  the 
sin  of  schism.  A  company  of  subjects  or  of  citi- 
zens, no  matter  how  large  and  respectable,  is  ut- 
terly unjustifiable  in  dissolving,  without  impera- 
tive cause,  the  ties  that  bind  it  to  the  civil  govern- 
ment under  which  it  exists.  A  company  of  Chris- 
tian people,  be  it  composed  of  ten  or  ten  thousand, 
is  equally  or  more  unjustifiable  in  setting  up,  Avith- 
out  imperative  cause,  a  separate  ecclesiastical  ju- 
risdiction. 

True,  the  essential  oneness  of  the  universal 
Church  is  its  inner  unity;  but  is  not  the  same 
thing  true  of  the  local  congregation,  which  never- 
theless must  also  be  outwardly  one?  The  sim- 
ple truth  is  that  in  either  case,  that  of  the  lo- 
cal or  that  of  the  larger  Church,  the  inner  is  both 
shown  forth  and  promoted  by  the  outer  unity, 
which  is  likewise  a  sacred  trust. 

Intercongregational  communion  began  with  the 
very  beginning  of  Christianity.  But  tempting  oc- 
casions of  withdrawal  from  it  occurred  almost  as 
soon.  The  chief  of  the  apostles  labored  all  through 
his  ministerial  life,  and  successfully,  to  prevent  a 
schism  between  Jewish  and  Gentile  believers. 
Very  easily  might  an  alien  organization  have  been 
started,  on  the  plea  of  equal  rights  for  all,  in  the 
very  city  where  the  disciples  were  first  called 
Christians.  Had  the  Judaizers  continued  to  insist 
upon  their  dogma,  "Except  ye  be  circumcised  after 
the  manner  of  Moses,  ve  cannot  be  saved,"  it  would 


THe  Churches  and  the  Church  163 

certainly  have  taken  place.  But  the  Antiochians, 
in  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  moderation,  sent  their 
delegation  to  the  mother  church  at  Jerusalem  to 
inquire  about  this  disturbing  question.  Antioch, 
Jerusalem — in  the  infant  societies  of  Christians  in 
these  two  cities  two  opposite  tendencies  were  rep- 
resented. Antioch  was  inclined  toward  a  larger 
freedom,  and  the  adjustment  of  Christian  ordi- 
nances to  the  requirements  of  the  new  revelation 
and  the  new  environment ;  Jerusalem  was  conserv- 
ative, traditional.  But  when  Antioch  seeks  counsel 
of  Jerusalem,  her  inquiries  are  answered  in  the 
same  wise  and  moderate  spirit  in  which  they  were 
conceived;  and  the  threatened  alienation  is  pre- 
vented. 

Who  are  the  schismatics?  First,  they  are  those 
who  enforce  conditions  of  Church  membership 
which  are  not  only  different  from  but  contrary  to 
the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament.  When,  for 
example,  a  church  requires  its  members  to  pro- 
fess faith  in  the  Roman  mass,  or  forbids  their 
meeting  together  for  Christian  communion  and 
worship  except  in  the  observance  of  a  certain  writ- 
ten liturgy,  it  thereby  becomes  in  spirit  and  ef- 
fect a  schismatic  body.  By  rendering  it  impossi- 
ble for  multitudes  of  truest  disciples  of  Christ  to 
continue  in  its  membership,  it  violates  the  man- 
ifested unity  of  his  Church.  Secondly,  the  schis- 
matics are  those  who  for  any  insufficient  cause 
withdraw  from  a  Church  of  Christ  and  set  up  a 


164  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

separate  and  competitive  organization  of  their 
own.  Thirdly,  in  a  milder  sense  of  the  term,  the 
schismatics  are  those  who,  on  the  one  hand,  refuse 
to  make  reasonable  concessions  to  the  views  of 
their  brethren  in  matters  of  creed,  liturgy,  and 
polity,  and  those  who,  on  the  other  hand,  are  more 
given  to  advocating  their  views  and  insisting  upon 
their  rights  than  upon  doing  their  duty  in  Chris- 
tian love. 

Indeed,  on  either  side,  and  in  all  its  manifesta- 
tions, the  spirit  of  schism  is  a  sin  against  love. 


To  the  student  of  Christendom  from  an  ecumen- 
ical view  point,  the  scene,  for  the  last  three  hun- 
dred years,  is  painfully  perplexing,  if  not  deplor- 
able. On  the  one  hand,  the  old  historic  Churches 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  confounding  submission  to 
ecclesiastical  authority  with  saving  faith,  and  se- 
curing unity  at  the  expense  of  fundamental  truth : 
salvation  being  made  to  depend  upon  an  imagin- 
ary sacramental  grace  which  may  be  given  or  with- 
held at  the  administrator's  will.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  truer  Catholicism  of  the  Protestant 
world  subdividing  along  the  lines  of  both  doctrine 
and  polity  into  numerous  distinct  and  separate 
bodies  contending  oftentimes  in  bitter  rivalry  with 
one  anotlier. 

The  most  recent  decades,  however,  have  glad- 
dened the  scene  with  increasing  signs  of  promise. 


Tlie  Churches  and  the  Church  165 

The  floods  are  still  out,  but  the  rainbow  brightens 
in  the  skj. 

Let  the  admission  be  gladly  made  that  denomi- 
nationalism  in  the  modern  Church  has  been  at- 
tended with  a  certain  measure  of  advantage. 

It  is  sometimes  asserted  that  this  advantage 
appears  in  doctrinal  teaching — one  denomination 
stressing  this  scripture  and  another  that,  so  as  to 
secure  the  strong  presentation  of  the  whole  circle 
of  evangelical  doctrine. 

This  consolatory  word,  however,  would  better 
bear  analysis,  if  the  doctrinal  diiferences  which  di- 
vide the  Churches  were  simple  differences  in  the 
placing  of  emphasis.     But  in  point  of  fact  they 
are  differences  in  kind.     The  distinctive  denomi- 
national teachings  are  exclusive  of  each  other :  all 
cannot  be  true,  and  it  must  be  better,  therefore, 
that  they  all  should  not  be  propagated.     If  it  be 
true,   for  example,  that   our  Lord  Jesus    Christ 
made  atonement  for  a  part  of  the  human  family 
only,  then  to  teach  that  his  atonement  is  equally 
for  them  all  is  false;  and  we  cannot  suppose  it 
promotive  of  the  world's  evangelization  that  one 
pulpit  should  proclaim  a  truth  and  a  neighboring 
pulpit  its  contradictory.     So  with  the  question, 
whether  baptism  may  be  administered  in  more 
than  one  mode,  or  to  more  than  one  class  of  sub- 
jects ;  so  with  the  Lutheran  as  compared  with  the 
Calvinian  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  so  with 
other  points  of  belief. 


166  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Now  the  insistence  of  a  certain  school  of  thought 
in  the  Church,  or  of  a  certain  age  in  the  Church's 
history,  upon  some  long-neglected  truth — as,  for 
instance,  justification  by  faith,  or  the  divine  sov- 
ereignty, or  the  personal  consciousness  of  salva- 
tion, or  the  fatherhood  of  God — is  indeed  a  great 
and  needful  service.  But  this  is  not  denomina- 
tionalism :  it  is  presenting  different  aspects  of  the 
one  truth,  not  advocating  both  a  truth  and  its  op- 
posite error. 

It  is  also  sometimes  said  that  the  good  of  the 
denominational  forms  of  Christianity  may  be 
found  in  diversity  of  ritual  and  organization.  It 
is  a  matter,  we  are  told,  not  of  truth  but  of  meth- 
od, not  of  life  but  of  the  ways  of  living.  A  form 
of  worship  or  of  government  may  be  admirably 
adapted  to  one  set  of  circumstances,  or  to  one  prov- 
idential purpose,  while  a  different  form  would  be 
more  effective  for  another.  Can  anybody  believe, 
for  example,  that  the  work  of  American  Metho- 
dism could  have  been  accomplished  under  a  con- 
gregational polity  ?  The  governing  Conference,  the 
general  superintendenc}^  and  the  itinerant  minis- 
try were  indispensable  conditions  of  its  success. 
On  the  other  hand,  many  a  minister  under  con- 
gregational government  has  wrought  a  work  and 
exerted  an  influence,  in  his  settled  pastorate,  for 
the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  that  would  have  been  im- 
possible under  an  itinerant  system.  Who  sup- 
poses it  best  that  Joseph  Parker  should  have  been 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  167 

removed  from  the  City  Temple,  or  Spurgeon  from 
the  Tabernacle?  No  one  ecclesiastical  arrange- 
ment is  absolutely  the  best,  just  as  no  one  personal 
gift  of  intellect  or  speech  is  sufficient  for  the  whole 
work  of  the  Church.  Well  may  there  be  many  ad- 
ministrations inspired  and  guided  by  the  one 
Spirit. 

But  here  the  question  arises,  whether  this  diver- 
sity of  administration  might  not  exist  under  a 
common  government;  or,  if  this  were  impossible, 
under  such  a  federation  of  Churches  as  would  in- 
sure the  greatest  possible  unity. 

Another  incidental  advantage  that  has  been 
claimed  for  denominationalism  is  emulation.  Not 
rivalry,  which  is  baneful,  but  response  to  inspiring 
example,  and  unselfish  competition  to  be  foremost 
in  every  good  work. 

Imagine  a  Christian  village  of  a  thousand  in- 
habitants :  one  church  spire  pointing  heavenward ; 
the  sound  of  one  church  bell  calling  to  the  house 
of  prayer;  one  pastor,  large-minded,  gifted,  de- 
vout, a  true  father  in  God  to  the  people;  no  de- 
nominational differences  or  divisions ;  the  rich  and 
the  poor  meeting  and  laboring  together  for  the 
coming  of  Christ's  kingdom — it  is  surely  a  picture 
to  charm  any  imagination.  But  the  fact  that  such 
a  state  of  things  is  still  "a  world  not  realized" 
cannot  be  charged  to  the  account  of  denomina- 
tionalism alone.  It  is  due  to  deeper  causes.  Per- 
haps we  have  known  a  community  in  which  some 


168  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

one  Church  had  full  sway,  and  3^et  the  work  of 
Christ  did  not  greatly  prosper.  There  was  little 
Christian  activity;  a  lukewarm  and  easy-going 
piety  threatened  to  become  the  prevailing  type. 
But  some  other  Church,  with  a  different  spirit  and 
different  methods,  made  its  appearance  on  the 
scene;  and  one  result  was  the  quickening  of  the 
older  congregation  into  newness  of  life. 

Now  what  is  shown  in  a  single  community  is 
equally  true  collectively:  one  whole  denomination 
may  stir  up  others  to  love  and  good  works.  It  will 
hardly  he  disputed,  for  example,  that  the  rise  of 
Protestantism  incited  a  moral  reformation  in  the 
Eoman  Catholic  Church,  or  that  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  have  elevated  the  standard  of  ministe- 
rial education,  or  that  the  Episcopal  Common 
Prayer  has  been  an  effective  witness  for  unity  and 
order  in  congregational  worship,  or  that  Meth- 
odism has  been  attended  from  its  beginning  with 
revival  influences  upon  the  various  churches  with 
which  it  has  come  into  contact.  It  is  irrelevant  to 
insist  that  Christians  ought  not  to  need  the  in- 
centive of  emulation  in  their  high  calling — that 
the  love  of  Christ  should  be  sufficient.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact  they  do  need  such  incentives;  nor  can 
these  be  condemned  as  unchristian  motives. 

It  remains,  however,  to  be  shown  whether  a 
more  healthful  and  brotherly,  though  it  should  be 
a  somewhat  less  urgent  and  continuous,  spirit  of 
emulation  might  not  be  incited  bv  the  different 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  169 

congregations  or  synods  of  one  common  Church. 
Certainly,  as  of  old,  Macedonia  might  provoke 
Achaia  and  Achaia  Macedonia  to  liberal  giving. 

Again,  it  has  been  suggested,  with  much  truth 
and  reason,  that  denominationalism  has  'proved 
the  futility  of  false  ecclesiastical  claims.  Christo- 
pher Columbus,  on  his  famous  voyage  of  explora- 
tion, made  indeed  a  great  positive  discovery;  but 
even  had  he  accomplished  nothing  in  this  direc- 
tion, the  voyage  would  have  been  worth  while  for 
the  sake  of  his  great  negative  discovery — namely, 
the  nonexistence  of  a  "sea  of  terrors."  Similarly 
have  various  Christian  communions  demonstrated 
that  some  particular  form  of  doctrine  or  adminis- 
tration— as,  for  instance,  apostolic  succession,  or 
congregational  government — supposed  by  many  of 
its  adherents  to  be  an  indispensable  mark  of  the 
true  Church,  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  the  lar- 
gest success  in  the  cause  of  Christ. 

Still  other  considerations  have  been  set  forth, 
with  more  or  less  of  forcefulness,  in  favor  of  de- 
nominational organizations:  such  as,  "the  libera- 
tion of  Christian  thinking,"  "the  distribution  of 
authority,"  "the  humanizing  of  Christianity," 
"the  indirect  testimony  to  the  universality  of 
Christian  truth."^ 

Most  of  such  pleas  are  offered  from  the  stand- 
point of  a  comparison  of  Protestantism  with  the 

^Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  "Universal  Elements  of  the 
Christian  Religion"  (Cole  Lectures,  1905),  p.  81. 


170  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

Komanism  by  which  it  was  preceded.  Their  force 
is  greatly  reduced,  when  the  Christian  denomina- 
tions as  they  now  exist  are  brouglit  into  compari- 
son not  with  Eonie  but  with  ideal  forms  of  Church 
government,  or  even  with  those  of  the  Catholic 
Church  before  the  coming  of  either  Christian  em- 
peror or  pope.^ 

II 

Turning  now  to  the  other  side  of  the  question, 
we  shall  find  the  evils  attendant  upon  present-day 
denominationalism  to  be  more  consnieuous  than 
>ts  advantages. 

One  of  these  evils  is  the  excessive  multiplica« 

^It  is  not  forgotten  that  the  Catholic  Church  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries  was  far  from  being  an 
ideal  institution;  nor  is  there  any  intention  to  ideal- 
ize it.  There  were  both  heresies  and  schisms,  some  of 
which  doubtless  might  have  been  prevented  or  cured 
by  a  more  Christlike  spirit  in  the  churches.  If  the 
followers  of  Marcion  could  not  have  been  kept  back 
by  any  Christian  brotherliness  or  wisdom  from  set- 
ting up  their  separate  heretical  communities,  there  is 
good  reason  to  believe  that  the  followers  of  Montanus 
might  have  been  saved  to  the  "Great  Church,"  greatly 
to  its  advantage,  instead  of  being  disfellowshiped  by 
their  often  less  worthy  and  less  orthodox  brethren, 
and  finally  persecuted  out  of  existence  by  the  Impe- 
rial government.  Nevertheless,  relatively  to  our  mod- 
ern eclcesiastical  status,  these  early  associated  church- 
es may  be  taken  as  a  fair  example  of  unity  and  fed- 
eration. 


Tlie  Churches  and  the  Church  171 

tion  of  separate  ecclesiastical  bodies.  If  it  be  not 
for  any  one  to  say  just  how  many  there  ought  to 
be,  nobody  will  deny  that  unwise  and  avoidable 
separations  have  taken  place,  and  uncalled-for  com- 
munions arisen.  Shall  they  now  be  maintained 
through  the  pride  of  heredity  or  the  inertia  of  cus- 
tom ?  In  such  a  book  as  "The  Religious  Forces  of 
the  United  States"  (Vol.  I.  of  American  Church 
History  Series)  more  than  a  hundred  evangelical 
Christian  denominations  are  described  as  existing 
side  by  side,  or  rather  interpenetrating  one  an- 
other, in  our  own  land.  Tbus  the  denominational 
degenerates  into  the  sectarian. 

Let  it  be  granted,  for  the  sake  of  illustration, 
that  the  Presbyterian  and  the  Methodist  are  each 
fulfilling  a  providential  mission,  so  that  modern 
Christianity  would  be  distinctly  worse  off  without 
either  of  them :  it  does  not  follow  that  the  numer- 
ous organized  divisions  of  Presbyterianism  in  Scot- 
land, or  of  Methodism  in  England,*  or  of  both  in 

""He  tells  of  four  Methodist  superintendent  minis- 
ters who  had  walked  one  recent  Sunday  morning  to  a 
village  four  miles  from  the  circuit  town  to  preach  to 
congregations  that  would  barely  have  filled  one  of  the 
chapels.  'All  those  ministers,'  he  says,  'were  one  in 
name,  one  in  doctrine,  and  one  in  heart.  To  make  the 
matter  more  monstrous,  I  do  not  believe  there  was  a 
single  person  in  either  of  the  chapels  that  could  have 
given  an  intelligent  reason  why  he  was  not  in  one  of 
the  others.' "  (Mantle,  "Life  of  Hugh  Price  Hughes," 
p.  89.) 


172  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

the  "United  States/  are  a  part  of  that  providen- 
tial mission.  The  clay  has  been  marred  in  the 
hands  of  the  potter.*^  The  strength  that  comes 
from  union  has  been  recklessly  sacrificed. 

All  strongly  marked  difference  is  not  to  be 
sharpened  into  an  instrument  of  division;  else 
how  could  any  human  society  endure?  Following 
such  a  rule,  how  many  civilized  families  would 
long  hold  together?     What  would  become  of  the 

"'There  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  places 
where  circuits  overlap  and  where  each  branch  of 
Methodism  has  a  church  building  in  a  stone's  throw 
of  each  other,  and  one  or  both  with  just  a  handful 
of  adherents  and  a  pitifully  small  congregation.  If 
there  were  vital  differences  in  doctrines,  or  if  we 
even  could  persuade  ourselves  that  there  were,  then 
we  might  go  on  as  in  the  past;  but  when  we  know 
there  is  not  a  single  difference  worth  mentioning,  the 
situation  becomes  strangely  incongruous.  Our  con- 
tention is  that  we  have  no  right  to  sacrifice  our 
preachers  on  the  altar  of  this  god  of  prejudice,  nor 
have  we  the  right  to  sacrifice  the  money  the  people 
put  into  our  treasuries  for  missionary  purposes  to 
such  unholy  uses."  (A.  J.  Joslyn,  in  Methodist  Illus- 
trated Magazine.) 

•"'By  the  smallest  measure  of  reasonable  concession, 
involving  only  the  simplest  principles  of  common 
courtesy,  one  hundred  and  forty-five  sects  might  be 
reduced  to  forty-two.  And  the  differences  which 
would  still  divide  them  would  be  of  an  origin  so  ob- 
scure as  to  perplex  the  majority  of  Church  mem- 
bers who  might  be  asked  to  give  an  explanation." 
(Hodges,  "Faith  and  Social  Service,"  p.  252.) 


The  Churches  and  tJie  Church  173 

Christian  home?  On  the  other  hand,  differences 
themselves  become  agreements  when  men  agree  to 
differ  and  work  in  harmony  for  some  greater  truth 
in  which  they  can  stand  together. 

Now  we  have  gone  thus  far  on  the  assumption 
that  the  establishment  of  denominations  has  been 
a  peaceful  and  well-conducted  process  throughout. 
But  the  slightest  knowledge  of  their  history  will 
show  how  far  otherwise  has  been  the  fact.  In 
many  eases  the  independent  camps  have  begun  and 
continued  as  antagonistic  camps.  While  the  com- 
mon foe  has  not  been  lost  sight  of,  neither  has  the 
opportunity  of  making  ill-advised  assaults,  either 
openly  or  under  cover  of  night,  upon  each  other's 
forces.  And  many  a  triumph  has  been  celebrated 
over  that  which  has  lowered  the  spiritual  tone  and 
demoralized  the  Christian  energies  alike  of  both 
the  contending  parties.  To  the  angels  in  heaven  it 
has  brought  no  joy. 

As  to  "those  who  are  without,"  the  skeptical  or 
unsympathetic  onlookers — "the  name  of  God  is 
blasphemed  among  the  Gentiles  because  of  you." 

It  may  be  suggested  in  reply  that  similar  con- 
tentions occur  inside  denominational  lines — that 
it  was  to  a  local  congregation  that  their  apostolic 
founder  wrote,  "Is  Christ  divided?  was  Paul  cru- 
cified for  you  ?  or  were  ye  baptized  into  the  name 
of  Paul?"  But  the  sorrowful  fact  is  that  when 
the  subjects  of  controversy  are  denominationalized 
not  only  is  their  relative  importance  seriously  ex- 


174  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

aggerated,  but  .also  they  become  hardened  into  per- 
petuity and  organized  for  enduring  activity  and 
conflict.  Was  it  the  apostle's  teaching  that  any 
party  in  the  Corinthian  Church  should  say,  "Since 
we  cannot  see  eye  to  eye  and  live  like-minded  to- 
gether, it  would  be  better  to  separate"';  and  not 
rather  that  Christ  should  be  all  in  all  ? 

The  economic  consideration  also  may  not  be 
ignored  or  minified.  There  is  an  enormous  waste 
of  resources.  Money  contributed  to  the  support 
of  a  Christian  denomination  is  supposed  to  be  con- 
tributed to  the  Church  of  Christ  for  the  mainte- 
nance and  enlargement  of  its  work.  It  is  the 
Lord's  money,  given  in  his  name.  This  is  the  ar- 
gument with  which  the  pulpit  presses  the  duty  of 
cheerful  giving  upon  the  heart  and  conscience  of 
the  people.  Denominations  are  so  many  agencies 
through  which  the  work  of  Christ  is  to  be  done. 
Except  in  this  character,  they  have  no  proper 
claim  on  Christian  sympathy  and  support.  But 
so  far  as  a  denomination  is  unnecessary  or  is  un- 
duly extended,  it  becomes  obstructive,  hindering 
rather  than  helping. 

The  best  illustration  of  this  state  of  affairs  will 
be  found  not  in  the  city,  where  it  may  be  said  that 
there  is  room  enough  for  all,  but  in  the  smaller 
towns  and  the  villages.  Here  it  is  more  than  pos- 
sible for  the  churches  to  be  in  each  other's  way: 
there  is  not  room  for  all.  In  many  instances  one, 
two,  three,  would  be  quite  enough,  where  a  half 


Tlie  Churches  and  the  Church  175 

dozen  are  struggling  for  self-support  and  self- 
advancement. '^  Meantime  the  needs  of  the  un- 
churched multitudes  of  the  great  cities  are  imper- 
atively calling  for  mission  halls,  with  organized 
Christian  workers;  and  hundreds  of  millions  of 
our  fellow-men  have  never  heard  the  name  of  their 
Saviour. 

To  prove  that  the  unceasing  expenditure  of 
means  for  such  multiplication  of  the  denomina- 
tional forms  of  Christianity  in  so  many  little  over- 
churched  communities,  new  and  old,  throughout 
the  land,  is  in  accordance  with  the  mind  of  the 
Master,  would  be  a  hopeless  undertaking. 

Worse  than  the  waste  of  money  is  the  waste  of 
men.  The  hand  of  God  is  laid  upon  a  young  man 
in  consecration  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  The 
years  of  preparation  are  patiently  improved.  FuD 
of  hope  and  zeal,  rejoicing,  trembling,  he  goes 
forth  to  tell  the  Master's  message  to  men.  But  in 
his  first  field  he  finds  himself  little  more  than 
chaplain   to    a    struggling   ecclesiastic   household 

'I  am  just  now  in  receipt  of  a  communication  from 
a  pastor  of  unusual  mental  fairness  and  good  judg- 
ment, in  which  it  is  stated:  "The  conditions  in  the 
Indian  Territory  are  even  worse  than  the  author 
[Gladden,  in  "The  Christian  Pastor"]  has  given,  as  to 
the  matter  of  'destructive  competition.'  I  was  pas- 
tor two  years  in  a  town  of  two  thousand  where  there 
are  thirteen  church  organizations  represented — and 
the  town  is  not  especially  religious  either.  .  .  .  The 
same  conditions  prevail  all  over  the  'New  State.' " 


176  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

closely  hemmed  in  by  competing  denominations. 
The  bright,  strong  days  of  youth  are  passing,  and 
where  is  the  great  congregation  that  he  can  gather 
and  organize  in  the  Lord's  canse  ?  The  people  are 
there,  he  is  well  qualified  to  serve  them,  but  so 
many  avenues  of  approach  are  closed  up,  and  his 
ministry  so  needlessly  limited  and  belittled.  Per- 
haps, worst  of  all,  his  own  nature  gradually  be- 
comes "subdued  to  that  it  works  in,"  and  the  glory 
of  large-hearted  evangelical  power  departs  from 
his  life.  He  is  content  to  stand  well  with  his 
brethren,  a  loyal  son  of  his  own  Church  and  avail- 
able for  whatever  more  eligible  position  it  may 
have  to  offer.  Who  shall  give  answer  for  this 
woeful  waste  of  ministerial  resources?' 

Meanwhile  a  lack  of  ministers  to  fill  the  pulpits 
of  the  churches  and  extend  their  work  is  no  un- 
common matter  of  complaint.  Of  recent  years 
particularly  the  inadequate  number  of  candidates 
for  the  ministry  has  been  noted  with  regret  and 

^"Hundreds  of  abandoned  churches,  thousands  of 
superfluous  organizations,  millions  of  squandered 
money,  hosts  of  martyr  missionaries,  proclaim  the 
need  of  radical  reform.  Christian  cooperation  in 
Church  extension  is  no  far-off  vision  of  a  formal 
union;  no  speculative  theory  of  an  ultimate  Catholic 
Church.  It  is  a  plain  duty,  which  the  Churches  as 
they  are  now  constituted  can  and  ought  to  do  at 
once."  (Hyde,  "Outlines  of  Social  Theology,"  pp. 
209,  210.) 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  177 

anxiet3^^  Days  of  fasting  and  prayer  have  been 
observed,  that,  in  accordance  with  the  Master's 
instrnctions,  the  lovers  of  his  cause  may  pray  "the 
Lord  of  tlie  harvest,  that  he  send  forth  laborers 
into  his  harvest."  The  young  men  of  the  Church 
have  been  admonished  to  let  no  worldly  ambition 
drown  the  inner  voice  of  the  Spirit  that  may  be 
calling  them  into  the  ministry  of  the  word.  Spe- 
cial speakers  have  been  appointed,  here  and  there, 
to  address  them  on  the  subject.  Pastors  and  other 
ofhce-bearers  have  been  urged  to  keep  on  the  look- 
out for  promising  young  men  for  ministerial  serv- 
ice, and  parents  counseled  to  show  their  children 
the  incomparable  glory  of  such  a  calling.  Let  all 
this  be  done,  if  wisely,  with  the  heartiest  approval. 
But  should  it  not  also  be  made  consistent  with  the 
use  to  which  the  Church  shall  put  the  ministers, 
called  of  God,  who  offer  themselves  for  her  service  ? 
If  it  be  to  build  up  one  congregation  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  against  another,  creating  or  perpetuat- 
ing division  where  there  might  be  concentration 

'"For  some  years  past  the  question  of  ministerial 
supply  has  been  a  vital  one  in  our  Conference.  .  .  . 
With  the  very  best  possible  estimate,  the  presiding 
elders  state  that  they  will  need  fifteen  more  men 
than  they  shall  have.  .  .  .  It  is  a  serious  condi- 
tion of  affairs  when  an  old  Conference,  like  the  Vir- 
ginia, does  not  develop  enough  men  to  do  the  neces- 
sary work  within  its  own  borders,  and  have  some  to 
spare  to  send  to  the  regions  beyond."  (Baltimore  and 
Richmond  Christian  Advocate,  October  18,  1906.) 
12 


178  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

of  moral  and  evangelical  endeavor — whose  voice 
has  called  them  into  such  a  harvest  ? 

But  waste  is  a  negative  idea.  The  chief  evil  of 
denominationalism,  as  now  existing,  is  positive; 
and  it  has  to  do  not  with  material  or  even  minis- 
terial resources  but  directly  with  the  spiritual  life. 
The  denomination,  instead  of  keeping  true  to  its 
published  creed  as  a  representative  of  the  catholic 
Church  of  Christ,  comes  to  be,  in  the  minds  of  its 
adherents,  unconsciously,  a  substitute  for  the 
Church,  Denominational  loyalty  is  appealed  to, 
and  the  attention  of  the  local  congregation  is  ab- 
sorbed in  the  bare  effort  to  maintain  itself  in  the 
struggle  for  existence  with  similar  forms  of  life. 
Let  the  fittest  survive :  the  sooner  the  weak  are 
crushed  out  the  better.^" 

"It  is  no  wonder  that  the  better  spirit  of  Christian 
bodies  should  be  seeking  relief  from  these  unchris- 
tian conditions,  as  in  the  following  examples: 

"The  purposes  of  the  General  Council  shall  be 
.  .  .  .  (5)  To  prevent  the  unnecessary  multiplica- 
tion of  churches;  to  unite  weak  churches  of  the  same 
neighborhood  wherever  it  is  practicable;  and  to  in- 
vite and  encourage  the  afl51iation  with  this  Council  of 
other  Christian  bodies  cherishing  a  kindred  faith  and 
purpose."  ("Plan  of  Union  between  Congregational- 
ists,  Methodist  Protestants,  and  United  Brethren," 
1905.) 

"II.  That  church  extension  into  destitute  commu- 
nities should  be  conducted,  as  far  as  practicable,  ac- 
cording to  the  following  considerations:  1.  No  com- 
munity   in    which    any    [evangelical]    denomination 


The  ChurcJies  and  the  Church  179 

]S[ow  whatever  qualities  are  thus  developed,  a 
true  Christian  humanity  is  not  one  of  them.  What- 
ever laws  are  fulfilled,  the  law  of  Christ  is  not  ful- 
filled. The  spirit  that  would  lend  a  helping  hand 
in  Jesus'  name  to  all  good  causes  is  checked  and 
embarrassed :  charity  must  stay  at  home.  Sundry 
expedients,  some  of  more  than  doubtful  propriety, 
are  resorted  to  for  the  raising  of  even  the  least 
amount  of  money  with  which  the  church  can  get 
on.  The  progress  of  neighboring  churches  is 
watched  with  a  jealous  eye.  Their  losses  are  not 
deplored;  their  successes  are  not  heartily  rejoiced 
in.  On  the  contrary,  to  see  them  close  their  doors 
in  acknowledged  failure  would  excite  a  secret  joy. 
For  does  it  not  mean  a  wider  field  for  one's  own, 
which  is  better  than  they?  Littleness  of  thought 
and  affection  is  encouraged.  The  Christian  aim  is 
lowered;  Christian  loyalty  is  perverted;  Christian 
love  is  spoiled.^^    And  as  with  the  local  community 

has  any  legitimate  claim  should  be  entered  by  any 
other  denomination  through  its  official  agencies  with- 
out conference  with  the  denomination  or  denomina- 
tions having  said  claims."  ("Statement  of  Principles, 
Interdenominational  Commission  of  Maine,"  1892.) 

"Dr.  Alexander  Whyte,  of  Edinburgh,  writing  from 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland  to  the  Scottish  Review, 
tells  of  worshiping  in  a  village  where  one  hard-work- 
ing minister  with  two  assistants  could  "turn  the 
whole  parish  into  a  garden  of  the  Lord."  But  what 
are  the  facts?  "There  are  seven  Christian  congrega- 
tions, all  singing  the  same  psalms,  all  reading  the 


180  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

so  with  those  widely  extended  communities,  the 
denominations  themselves :  the}'  are  not,  in  any 
sense  adequate  to  satisfy  an  instructed  conscience, 
fellow-helpers  of  the  truth. 

Now  such  a  rehearsal  of  the  defects  and  fail- 
ures of  the  churches  is  indeed  "grievous."  One 
has  to  force  the  pen  to  write  it  down.  Neverthe- 
less it  may  be  "safe."  Pleasant  or  painful,  appro- 
bative  or  condemnator}^  let  all  the  facts  be  looked 
in  the  face.  Then  may  wise  counsel  be  taken  for 
the  remedy  of  evils.  For  what  does  any  reasonable 
man  want  to  know  except  the  truth?  and  what 
does  any  Christian  want  to  promote  except  the  do- 
ing of  the  heavenly  Father's  will  ? 

same  New  Testament,  and  all  praying  in  the  name 
of  the  same  Mediator,  but  so  separated  and  so  alien- 
ated, that  they  will  not  worship  together  on  Sabbath 
days,  and  are  scarcely  civil  to  one  another  on  week 
days." 


THE  CHUECHES  AND  THE  CHTJECH: 
FEDEEATION 

A  GUIDING  light  in  ecclesiastical  reinterpreta- 
tion,  with  its  attendant  readjustments,  is  a  true 
Christian  and  historic  knowledge.  To  know  the 
tenets  and  achievements  of  one's  own  church  only, 
whether  it  be  a  larger  or  a  smaller  body,  is  to  in- 
cur the  risk  of  degenerating  into  a  sectarian.  Let 
us  know  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  of 
"the  whole  Congregation  of  Christian  people  dis- 
persed throughout  the  world."  It  will  show  the 
schismatic  effect  of  many  a  strained  or  unsound 
dogma  and  many  an  arrogant  assumption ;  for,  as 
already  suggested,  those  who  stay,  not  those  who 
go,  are  sometimes  the  real  schismatics.  But  it 
will  also  show  the  unwisdom,  if  not  sinfulness,  of 
more  than  one  actual  separation. 

Perhaps  the  most  fruitful  source  of  bigotry  is 
lack  of  knowledge.  A  secluded  community,  cut  off 
from  the  main  currents  of  life  and  thought  that 
traverse  and  unify  the  country  at  large,  becomes 
provincial ;  and  it  is  liable  to  be  swept  into  antago- 
nism to  national  laws  that  do  not  suit  its  wishes, 

(181) 


182  TJie  Idea  of  the  Churdi 

or  to  drift  out  of  sympathy  more  and  more  with 
the  nation  of  which  it  should  feel  honored  to  form 
a  part.  Sectarianism  is  provincialism  in  the 
Church.  It  is  a  part  taking  itself  to  be  the  whole, 
or  at  least  becoming  self-centered  and  self-sus- 
tained. It  is  the  hand  or  the  foot  or  the  little  fin- 
ger boasting,  "Behold,  I  am  the  body."  There  is 
no  proper  recognition  of  the  larger,  the  universal, 
life.  The  sectarian  bigot  knows  the  history  and 
spirit  of  his  own  communion  only  (in  most  in- 
stances, not  even  that).  But  to  know  just  one  is 
to  know  none;  and  knowledge  is  a  condition  of 
catholicity. 

Knowledge,  however,  is  not  a  motive:  it  does 
nothing.  It  is  only  a  light  upon  the  road  where 
men  are  pressing  forward  under  the  impulses  of 
the  heart.  To  know  Christian  history  is  not  in  it- 
self to  realize  the  fellowship  of  Christians.  The 
direct  and  effectual  cure  of  a  sectarian  spirit  is 
love;  and  here  the  probing  knife  in  self-examina- 
tion may  not  be  spared.  What  is  it  that  I  like,  or 
am  liJce?  what  am  I  caring  for  supremely — our 
Church  order  or  the  order  of  the  kingdom  of  heav- 
en, our  devotional  forms  or  the  worship  of  God, 
our  ministry  or  Christ's  ministry  of  the  gospel, 
our  Church  or  the  Church  of  the  living  God  ? 

"Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem:  they  shall 
prosper  that  love  thee."  What  was  Jerusalem? 
The  city  of  the  one  Temple,  the  center  and  repre- 
sentative of  Jehovah's  kingdom  on  earth. 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  183 

Whither  the  tribes  go  up,  even  the  tribes  of  Jehovah, 

For  an  ordinance  for  Israel, 

To  give  thanks  unto  the  name  of  Jehovah.^ 

That  was  the  Jerusalem  to  be  loved  and  prayed 
for.  But  God  has  provided  a  still  better  thing  for 
his  people  in  the  Christian  age.  Their  bond  of 
unity  is  not  a  temple,  nor  a  city,  nor  a  history, 
nor  a  nationality,  nor  a  tradition,  but  the  very 
Truth  of  truth,  the  crucified  and  ever-living 
Christ. 


Nevertheless  it  may  be  urged  that  the  denomi- 
national form  of  Christianity  must  be  accepted 
as  inevitable.  The  argument  is  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows :  It  can  be  imagined  that  God  might  so  have 
made  men's  minds  and  so  have  wrought  upon  their 
hearts  by  the  grace  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  and  so  have 
given  the  revelation  of  himself  through  the  Scrip- 
tures and  in  Jesus  Christ,  that  no  important  dif- 
ference of  belief,  either  as  to  doctrine  or  polity, 
would  have  been  possible  among  the  true-minded. 
But  it  has  not  been  so.  Granted  equal  sincerity 
and  equal  diligence  in  a  company  of  truth-seeking 
Christian  people,  still  they  will  probably  not  be  at 
one  on  all  great  doctrinal  and  ecclesiological  ques- 
tions. It  is  through  broken  views,  imperfect  knowl- 
edge, partial  prophesyings,  and  despite  many  posi- 
tive errors,  that  the  Father  is  training  his  chil- 

*Ps.  cxxii.  4,  6. 


184  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Chui'cli 

dren  here  for  the  face-to-face  vision  hereafter. 
Therefore,  may  not  these  variant  types  of  belief, 
growing  largely  out  of  variant  intellectual  temper- 
aments, while  putting  neither  party  out  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  make  it  desirable  that  each 
should  be  separately  organized  in  order  that  it 
may  do  the  work  of  Christ  according  to  its  own 
convictions  of  truth  and  efficiency? 

Waiving  the  historical  view,  let  us  simply  con- 
template the  present  situation.  Whatever  the  ori- 
gin and  history  of  the  Christian  denominations, 
they  exist  as  a  prominent  fact  in  the  Christianity, 
say,  of  our  own  country.  Suppose  it  to  be  granted 
that  their  formation,  under  the  conditions  exist- 
ing at  the  time,  was  inevitable.  Is  their  separate 
existence  necessarily  interminable?  What  in  all 
good  conscience  ought  they  to  do  as  sister  Church- 
es, here  and  now,  relatively  to  one  another  ? 

It  must  be  assumed  that  those  who  ask  this 
question  are  in  favor  of  the  closest  possible  eccle- 
siastical cooperation.  If  union  be  impossible,  they 
would  at  least  have  unembarrassed  communion. 
When  the  House  of  Bishops  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  in  the  year  1886,  made  their 
proposal  of  a  basis  for  "the  restoration  of  the  or- 
ganic unity  of  the  Church,"  they  recorded  their 
deep  grief  at  the  "sad  divisions  which  affect  the 
Christian  Church  in  our  own  land,"  and  their 
"earnest  desire  that  the  Saviour's  prayer,  that  we 
all  may  be  one,  may,  in  its  deepest  and  truest 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  185 

sense,  be  speedily  fulfilled."  When  the  Joint  Com- 
mittee of  the  Congregational,  the  Methodist  Prot- 
estant, and  the  United  Brethren  Churches,  in 
1903,  proposed  a  general  council  for  the  unifica- 
tion of  these  three  Churches,  they  declared,  first  of 
all,  as  its  purpose,  "To  present  to  the  world  some 
realization  of  that  unity  of  believers  which,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  prayer  of  our  Lord,  seems  so 
desirable  among  Christian  Churches."  The  imme- 
diate object  proposed  by  the  bishops  was  organic 
unity;  by  the  Joint  Committee,  federation.  But 
the  spirit  of  both  proposals,  being  that  of  the  won- 
drous intercessory  praj'-er  of  Jesus,  in  which  both 
sought  justification,  was  the  same.  Let  us  sup- 
pose, therefore,  that  in  this  spirit  of  genuine 
brotherhood  it  should  be  asked,  Is  the  organic 
union,  or  even  the  federation,  of  the  Churches 
possible  ? 

To  illustrate.  The  Baptist  and  the  Episcopal 
views  of  Church  organization  and  the  Christian 
sacraments  are  held  with  entire  sincerity  by  men 
of  competent  scholarship  and  unimpeachable  loy- 
alty to  Christ.  Each  of  these  views  is  held  not 
only  as  a  personal  conviction,  but  also  as  repre- 
senting a  fiduciary  deposit  of  truth  from  the  Lord, 
a  part  of  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints, 
that  must  be  faithfully  guarded.  Under  what 
conceivable  form  of  organic  union,  or  of  federa- 
tion that  was  not  too  attenuated  to  be  of  any  real 
service,  could  these  two  classes  of  Christian  be- 


186  The  Idea  of  the  Church. 

lievers  be  now  included?     Probably  under  none 
at  all. 

If,  however,  there  be  no  present  solution  of  the 
problem,  still  it  may  be  borne  in  mind  that  in 
these  opposing  beliefs  are  contained  agreements 
that  are  far  more  significant  than  the  disagree- 
ments.^ And  as  to  these  disagreements,  are  they  in 
their  very  nature  ever-enduring?  On  one  side  or 
the  other,  or  on  both,  there  must  needs  be  some- 
thing of  exaggeration,  depreciation,  distortion  of 
the  truth;  but  while  such  things  as  these  appear 
and  disappear,  linger  and  persist,  they  are  not  so 
long-lived  after  all  as  the  truth  itself  which  they 
misrepresent.  The  plants  that  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  planted  will  outlive  all 
their  fungous  growths.  Is  there  no  truer  insight 
into  Holy  Scripture,  no  larger  vision  of  God  in 

^If  the  Presbyterian  and  the  Methodist  rather  than 
the  Episcopalian  and  the  Baptist  had  been  chosen 
as  illustrative  examples,  the  possibility  of  union 
might  have  been  shown  by  a  recent  fact — by  the 
proposed  unification  of  the  Presbyterian  and  the 
Methodist  Church  (together  with  the  Congregational 
Churches)  of  Canada  on  the  basis  of  a  common  creed. 
All  the  doctrines  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the 
Twenty-five  Articles  that  these  Churches  thought  it 
needful  to  set  forth  as  their  doctrinal  constitution 
have  been  included  in  their  one  united  statement  of 
faith.  Some  years  ago  the  prediction  of  such  an 
agreement  would  by  many  intelligent  persons  have 
been  laughed  to  scorn. 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  187 

Christ,  no  deeper  and  wider  knowledge  of  the  di- 
vine order,  to  be  given  by  the  Spirit  who  is  lead- 
ing those  who  will  to  follow  into  all  spiritual 
truth?  Even  now  it  may  be  among  us  but  partly 
recognized,  illumining  many  minds,  the  beginning 
of  a  clearer  and  more  fruitful  day.^ 

II 

At  any  rate  the  hearts  of  Christ's  faithful  peo- 
ple are  yearning  for  unity  and  cooperation  rather 
than  contending  for  the  pride  of  organized  inde- 
pendence. The  Churches  are  drawing  closer  to- 
gether.*    It  is  a  sign  of  the  times.     It  is  one  of 

'"The  drawing  together  of  the  Churches  on  the  ba- 
sis of  the  Bible  and  its  recognized  teachings  is  the 
most  significant  thing  in  Christendom  to-day.  .  .  . 
Ever  since  the  days  of  Luther  the  Bible  has  been  the 
rallying  ground  of  the  Protestant  world.  The  first 
effect  of  this  was  a  divisive  one.  .  .  .  But  now 
that  same  loyalty  to  the  Bible  is  bringing  the  Church- 
es together.  .  .  .  Bizarre  and  extraordinary  appli- 
cations of  isolated  passages  meet  with  no  favor  In 
this  age  of  sane  and  careful  Bible  study.  The  Church 
or  sect  which  builds  upon  such  interpretations  can 
no  longer  make  a  strong  appeal  to  the  Christian 
world."  (The  Christian  Advocate,  Nashville,  July 
19,  1906.) 

*"Recent  years  have  wrought  a  marked  change  In 
the  relations  of  great  Christian  denominations  toward 
each  other.  Ecclesiastical  controversy  has  given  way 
to  the  spirit  of  Christian  unity  and  catholicity.  A 
closer  cooperative  fellowship  is  the  universal  desire 


188  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

the  wateliTTords  in  the  air.  In  England,  in  Scot- 
land, in  Australia,  in  Canada,  in  the  United 
States,  alike  in  the  Old  World  and  the  ISTew,  affilia- 
tions, federations,  or,  as  in  some  cases,  organic 
unions,  have  been  a  distinguishing  mark  of  the 
last  half  century.  They  are  just  now  more  pro- 
nounced than  ever.^ 

That  obstructions  should  be  met  with  and  coun- 
ter currents  of  feeling  started  (as,  for  example,  in 
the  case  of  the  Scottish  "Wee  Frees"),  is  only  what 
might  have  been  reasonably  expected.  But  the 
general  course  of  the  interdenominational  move- 
ment is  unmistakable;  and  the  surprising  fact  is 
that  the  obstructions  are  no  greater. 

It  is  not  a  tendency  toward  some  merely  larger 

and  earnest  prayer.  All  evangelical  denominations 
are  purposed  to  remove  as  far  as  possible  needless 
waste  and  rivalry."  (Quadrennial  Address  of  the 
Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
1906.) 

^Note  among  other  recent  signs  (which  would  have 
seemed  impossible  half  a  century  ago)  of  coopera- 
tion, federation,  or  organic  union,  in  the  Evangelical 
Churches,  such  as  the  following:  In  England  the 
National  Council  of  Evangelical  Free  Churches  (in- 
cluding practically  all  the  Free,  or  Dissenting,  Church- 
es);  in  Scotland,  the  union  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
and  the  Free  Cliurch;  in  Australia,  the  oflBcial  propos- 
al and  effort  to  unite  all  the  non-Episcopal  Churches; 
in  Canada,  the  consolidation  of  the  four  Presbyterian 
and  the  five  Methodist  Churches  into  one  Presbyte- 
rian  and   one  Methodist   Church,   and   the   proposed 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  189 

toleration.  That  might  awaken  a  suspicion  of  in- 
differentism  rather  than  give  proof  of  love  or 
l)romise  of  progress.  "You  come,"  said  an  elder 
to  his  newly  elected  pastor,  "you  come  to  a  united 
church."  i\.nd  the  minister  rejoiced  in  spirit,  till , 
the  elder  added  in  explanation,  "We  are  frozen 
together."  There  is  a  oneness  of  inactivity,  the 
waveless  peace  of  the  ice-bound  lake.  A  man  of 
serious  convictions  and  deep  moral  earnestness 
cannot  be  merely  tolerant,  simply  because  he  can- 
not be  indiiferent.  He  must  be  either  for  or 
against. 

On  the  gravestone  of  an  American  Puritan  of 
the  olden  time  is  written  the  epitaph : 

Let  men  of  God  in  Church  and  nation  watch 
'Gainst  such  as  would  a  toleration  hatch. 

consolidation  (referred  to  above)  now  apparently  in 
process  of  accomplishment,  of  these  two  Churches,  to- 
gether with  the  Congregational  Church;  in  the  United 
States,  the  action  of  the  National  Council  of  the  Con- 
gregational Churches  and  of  the  Northern  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  seeking  closer  afBlia- 
tion  with  their  sister  Churches,  the  conferences  now 
being  held  for  the  union  of  the  United  Brethren,  the 
Methodist  Protestant,  and  the  Congregational  Church- 
es, the  organic  union  of  the  Presbyterian  (Northern 
Assembly)  and  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
the  closer  affiliation  of  the  two  Methodist  Episcopal 
Churches,  the  Christian  Endeavor  Societies,  the  Stu- 
dent Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign  Missions,  the 
National  Federation  of  Churches  and  Christian  Work- 
ers, the  Interchurch  Federation  Conference. 


190  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

It  is  probable  that  the  subject  of  this  memorial 
couplet  sometimes  over-exalted  expediency  or  opin- 
ion even  to  the  plane  of  principle  and  created 
needless  matters  of  controversy  and  of  conscience ; 
yet  the  steadfast  refusal  to  yield  assent  to  what 
one  believes  to  be  false  or  wrong,  which  is  the 
spirit  of  the  doggerel  epitaph,  must  be  approved. 
It  may  be  believed,  however,  that  the  movement 
from  liberty  and  independence  to  union  in  the 
Churches  of  to-day  finds  its  best  interpretation  in 
a  more  accurate  apprehension  of  the  relation  of 
essentials  and  nonessentials  in  the  gospel,  a  quick- 
ened sense  of  human  brotherhood,  and  a  keener 
appreciation  of  the  grace  of  Christian  alliance.  It 
is  not  humanitarian  but  human,  not  careless  of 
theology  but  Christological.^ 

Ill 

It  must  begin  at  each  Church's  own  doors.   The 

ideal,  indeed,  cannot  reach  too  high  or  too  far. 

Make  it  world-M'ide,  that  wherever  sin  has  gained 

possession  of  a  soul  grace  may  be  seen  much  more 

*"'It  [the  Federation  of  the  Evangelical  Free 
Churches  in  England]  is  peculiar  in  the  fact  that  it 
is  not  philanthropic,  humanitarian,  political,  or  edu- 
cational, but  essentially  ecclesiastical  and  Christian. 
Its  essential  doctrine,  as  stated  in  the  catechism,  is 
that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  and  sufficient 
center  of  unity  for  the  living,  visible  members  of  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church  throughout  the  world."  (Man- 
tle, "Life  of  Hugh  Price  Hughes,"  p.  146.) 


Tlie  Churches  and  the  Church  191 

to  abound,  and  Christ's  "holy  Church  universal" 
to  appear  in  the  fullest  sense  universal,  and  holy, 
and  one.  But  the  method  for  the  realization  of 
any  high  ideal  is  that  of  step  by  step.  Nil  per 
saltum.  The  question  of  the  federation  of  an 
evangelical  communion  with  the  Eastern  or  the 
Roman  Church  at  this  time  would  be  little  more 
than  an  academic  exercise.  But  it  is  not  so  as  to 
the  communions  that  are  closely  affiliated  in  doc- 
trine and  in  spirit.  Here  is  the  opportunity  and 
the  consequent  obligation. 

The  three  general  methods  proposed  or  actually 
practiced  for  the  reunion  of  the  Church  have  been 
described  as  (1)  Submission,  (3)  Legislation,  (3) 
Cooperation.'^ 

Submission,  as  a  method  of  reunion,  requires 
that  one  church  shall  simply  yield  itself  up  to 
what  another  imposes  as  supreme  authority.  "I 
heartily  join  in  this  prayer  for  Christian  unity," 
says  Archbishop  Gibbons,  "and  gladly  would  sur- 
render my  life  for  such  a  consummation.  But  I 
tell  you  that  Jesus  Christ  has  pointed  out  the  only 
means  by  which  this  unity  can  be  maintained,  viz., 
the  recognition  of  Peter  and  his  successors  as  the 
head  of  the  Church."^  Here  and  there  an  imagi- 
native or  overawed  soul  will  yield  to  such  a  claim, 
but  as  a  basis  for  the  reunion  of  Christendom  it  is 
quite  impossible. 

'Hodge,  "Faith  and  Social  Service,"  p.  255. 
«"The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers,"  p.  139. 


192  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Legislation  asks  that  nearly  related  Churelies, 
through  their  highest  councils,  shall,  without  the 
surrender  of  any  vital  principle,  make  such  con- 
cessions or  compromises,  and  adopt  such  measures, 
as  will  unite  them,  in  federation  or  in  organic 
union,  as  a  single  ecclesiastical  body.  It  is  now 
being  approved  more  than  in  any  previous  period 
of  the  Church's  history,  as  an  effective  method.® 

Cooperation  would  realize  the  visible  and  prac- 
tical unity  of  Christian  workers.  Disregarding 
peculiarities  of  doctrine  and  polity,  it  gathers 
Christians  of  different  communions  into  the  fel- 
lowship of  service,  in  the  name  of  their  one  Lead- 
er and  Lord.  The  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  For- 
eign Missions,  the  National  Federation  of  Church- 
es and  Christian  Workers,  the  Interchurch  Con- 
ference on  Federation,  are  pertinent  examples. 

Some  such  alliance  in  service  is  practiced  to  an 
increasing  extent  in  local  communities.  Indeed, 
it  is  practically  forced  upon  intelligent  and  faith- 
ful churches  by  the  manifest  needs  of  the  situa- 
tion. In  the  presence  of  perplexing  problems  of 
destitution  and  suffering,  both  physical  and  moral, 
as  in  our  large  cities,  and  in  the  face  of  the  or- 
ganized forces  of  vice  and  iniquity — of  intemper- 
ance, impurity,  official  corruption,  "where  Satan's 
seat  is' — how  is  it  possible  for  the  churches,  which 
exemplify  the  forces  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  to 

"See  above,  pp.  188,  189,  n. 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  193 

bear  their  testimony  or  do  their  redeeming  work 
without  brotherly  coworking?  Nor  is  there  need 
to  wait,  in  this  case,  for  formal  authorization  from 
their  respective  governing  assemblies.  They  have 
only  to  work  together  anywhere,  Avisely  and  well, 
as  opportunity  offers  or  occasion  demands.  And 
if  this  Christianity  practically  applied  shall  open 
the  way  for  closer  and  wider  Christian  federation, 
it  is  so  much  the  more  a  matter  for  gratitude  and 
rejoicing.^" 

But  the  local  community  is  the  nation  in  minia- 
ture. ^Yhat  it  needs  is  needed  in  all  the  land. 
What  is  influential  in  the  promotion  of  its  inter- 
ests is  similarly  influential  in  securing  the  welfare 
of  the  whole  people.  Now  a  national  Church  will 
make  its  mind  and  will  felt  in  the  ideals,  the 
customs,  the  lawmaking  and  law-enforcing  of  the 
nation.    It  has  the  opportunity  to  act  as  a  mighty 

'■The  Federation  of  Churches  in  New  York  City 
offers  a  good  example  of  this  Christian  cooperative 
effort.  Its  work  for  the  year  1906,  as  summarized  in 
a  recent  number  of  the  Congi-egationalist,  is  in  part 
as  follows:  "In  eleven  months  nearly  one-fifth  of 
Greater  New  York  has  been  visited,  or  over  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  thousand  families.  Of  Jewish  families, 
sixty-three  per  cent,  had  no  religious  affiliation;  of 
Protestants  there  were  twenty-eight  per  cent.;  and  of 
Roman  Catholics  only  five  per  cent.  Over  seven  hun- 
dred churchless  families  have  been  recovered  to  regu- 
larity of  worship,  and  there  is  a  steady  yielding  to 
the  kindly  Christian  visitation  of  this  new  form  of 
cooperative  missionary  endeavor." 
13 


194  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

and  universal  force  for  civic  righteousness  and 
moral  reform.  But  here  the  organic  union  with 
the  State  makes  the  Church  something  less,  in 
character  and  position,  than  a  church  of  Christ, 
so  as  to  obstruct  its  opportunity  and  cripple  its 
power  for  good.  So  likewise  have  the  free  evan- 
gelical churches,  by  the  lack  of  unity  and  coop- 
eration, depreciated  their  opportunity  and  crippled 
their  power  to  make  the  commonwealth,  in  which 
they  are  called  of  God  to  stand  together  for  all 
righteousness,  a  commonwealth  of  God.  Shorn  of 
love  (for  after  all  it  is  that  word  that  touches  the 
deepest  and  saddest  source  of  failure),  they  are 
degraded  into  weakness  before  their  embattled  ene- 
mies. "Only  w'ith  united  voice  and  with  con- 
certed action,"  says  the  Interchurch  Conference, 
"can  the  Church  successfully  antagonize  such 
evils  as  the  liquor  traffic,  unscriptural  divorce,  the 
desecration  of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  the  social  evil; 
or  can  she  hope  to  solve  such  problems  as  arise  out 
of  the  needs  of  city  evangelization,  the  relations 
of  capital  and  labor,  and  the  influx  of  foreign  im- 
migration." The  united  voice  and  concerted  ac- 
tion, being  practicable,  are  imperative.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  interpret  otherwise  the  Lord's  com- 
mand. 

But  if  cooperation  is  thus  obligatory  in  the 
home  land,  it  is  more  manifestly  so  abroad.  Think 
of  the  feeble  mission  stations,  surrounded  by  myr- 
iads of  the  unevangelized,  and  all  the  cruel  super- 


The  CKurcJies  and  the  Church  195 

stitions  with  all  the  moral  degradation  of  pagan- 
ism. In  such  circumstances,  sectarian  conten- 
tions or  oflfishness  and  estrangement  would  indeed 
offer  an  open  and  perpetual  invitation  to  defeat. 
It  would  seem  to  be  little  less  than  the  burning 
shame  of  treason  in  the  very  outposts  of  the  Holy 
War. 

Hence  the  recent  instructive  examples  of  co- 
operative work  and  of  federation  in  the  foreign 
missionary  field. ^^ 

But  the  work  is  essentially  one,  the  need  one, 
and  the  law  of  Christ  one,  there  and  here,  abroad 
and  at  home.^- 

"No  country  offers  a  better  example  than  the  Jap- 
anese Empire.  The  missions  of  the  six  Presbyterian 
Churches  represented  in  Japan  have  all  united  under 
the  name  of  "The  United  Church  in  Japan"  (Nippon 
Kirisuto  Kyowai).  A  similar  union  has  taken  place 
in  the  three  missions  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  in 
three  of  the  American  Methodist  Churches. 

"At  the  Tokio  Conference  [composed  of  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  missionaries]  in  1900,  the  spirit  of 
oneness  came  upon  the  missionaries  assembled,  and 
all  were  led  to  reecho  with  deeper  ernestness  than 
ever  before  the  Master's  prayer,  'That  they  all  may 
be  one.'  A  committee  of  eighteen  was  formed,  called 
the  Standing  Committee  of  Cooperating  Missions  in 
Japan,  whose  duties  are  to  foster  all  possible  co- 
operation, to  give  counsel  with  regard  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  forces,  to  prevent  misunderstandings,  and  to 
promote  harmony."  (De  Forest,  "Sunrise  in  the  Sun- 
rise Kingdom,"  p.  180.) 

'^"We  are  learning  in  our  day,  and  it  is  another  of 


196  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Great  is  the  unifying  power  of  a  common  pur- 
pose. Have  the  Christian  churches,  then,  col- 
lectively considered,  any  supreme  purpose  for 
which  they  have  been  called  into  existence  ?  There 
can  be  but  one  answer.  So  far  as  they  are  gen- 
uinely Christian  churches,  they  exist  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discipling  all  nations  and  thus  making 
universally  manifest  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 
Suppose  them,  then,  to  work  together  in  every 
community  unto  this  end.  Let  the  lust  of  eccle- 
siastical dominion  be  brought  to  shame  by  the 
solemn  and  loving  determination  to  subdue  the 
world  unto  Jesus  Christ.  Of  necessity  they  will 
thereby  draw  closer  together,  walking  according  to 
the  same  rule,  minding  the  same  thing,  and  thus 
unconsciously  constraining  the  world  to  believe 
that  their  common  Lord  is  indeed  the  One  sent 
forth  from  God. 

IV 

An  indispensable  condition  of  success  in  such 
movements,  now  taking  place,  is  that  their  direc- 
tion shall  be  from  within  outward.  As  in  the 
case  of  adopting  an  order  of  worship,  and  in  nu- 
merous similar  cases,  it  is  a  life  striving  to  "pro- 

the  glories  of  foreign  missions  to  have  taught  us  the 
lesson,  that  denominations  exist  for  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  and  by  no  means  the  kingdom  of  Christ  for 
any  one  denomination.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of  comity 
is  the  spirit  of  missions."  (Dr.  O.  E.  Brown,  in  "Mis- 
sionary Issues  of  the  Twentieth  Century,"  p.  25.) 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  197 

cure  a  form  to  habit  in."  The  form  can  never 
successfully  impose  itself  upon  the  life,  but  must 
be  molded  by  it.  To  unite  dissentient  religious 
bodies  by  the  mere  force  of  authoritative  leader- 
ship, or  the  mere  majority  votes  of  conventions,  or 
in  a  glow  of  emotional  goodwill  unable  to  give  an 
intelligent  account  of  itself,  would  be  a  vain  pro- 
cedure. Might  it  not  repeat  the  story  of  the 
Babel  builders,  prematurely  consolidating  their 
elans  about  one  proud  tower?  The  cost  of  the 
hasty  is  discord ;  and  of  the  superficial,  transiency. 
It  is  the  consentient  action  of  mind,  heart,  and 
conscience  that  is  enduring. 

Nevertheless  there  is  much  help  to  be  received 
from  without.  Crowded  conventions  may  be  botli 
informatory  and  inspirational.  Instruction  and 
leadership  are  necessary;  and  in  every  great  eccle- 
siastical movement  it  is  upon  the  teachers  and 
leaders,  not  upon  the  body  of  the  people,  that  the 
chief  weight  of  responsibility  rests.  Shall  the 
leaders  wait  until  the  people  press  them  on,  and 
thus  cease  to  be  leaders  at  all? 

The  heart  of  Church  unity  is  like-mindedness  in 
Christ.  jSTot  authority,  nor  expediency,  nor  con- 
ventional usage,  nor  verbal  agreements,  but  a  faith 
of  the  heart.  "I  exhort  Euodia,  and  I  exhort  Syn- 
tyche,  to  be  of  the  same  mind  in  the  Lord}^  Here 
the  emphasis  of  the  New  Testament  is  laid.  The 
deep  and  tender  longing  of  the  Saviour  for  the 

"Phil.  iv.  2. 


198  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

oneness  of  his  people  was  for  this  oneness  in  him- 
self and  the  Father."  While  there  was  no  word 
spoken  concerning  an  outwardty  unified  form  of 
government,  there  was  much  command  and  en- 
treat}^ concerning  brotherly  love. 

Accordingl}^  in  the  churches  of  the  apostolic 
and  the  sub-apostolic  age,  these  two  characteristics, 
a  negative  and  a  positive,  are  noticeable:  the  ab- 
sence of  any  one  ecumenical  and  authoritative  gov- 
ernment, and  the  fact  of  one  common  intercon- 
gregational  recognition  and  communication.  For 
while  the  apostolic  founders  and  their  successors 
had  nothing  to  say  about  a  universal  organic  un- 
ion, they  did  have  very  much  to  say,  in  imitation 
of  their  Lord's  example,  about  the  essential  Chris- 
tian unity.  In  such  a  cause  they  would  indeed 
have  "gladly  surrendered  their  lives."  Because 
the  organic  is  of  no  value?  Surely  not;  but  be- 
cause the  Christian  is  its  life  center.  First  and 
last,  let  the  heart  beat  true.  The  unity  of  the 
spirit,  in  the  might  of  God's  own  Spirit,  is  love. 

The  effect  of  denominationalism  upon  many  a 
community  is  beyond  question  most  unhappy;  but 
federation  alone,  or  organic  union  alone,  would 
work  no  radical  cure.  A  wise  physician  does  not 
wish  to  see  a  deep  wound  heal  on  the  surface  first 
of  all.  In  like  manner  must  the  wounds  of  the 
Church  be  healed  within,  that  the  outer  healing 
also  may  be  safe  and  permanent.     The  intolerable 

"John  xvli.  21. 


The  Churches  and  the  Church  199 

effect  of  separate  jealous  and  discordant  denomi- 
nations is  not  due  solely  to  their  being  separate, 
but  essentially  to  their  being  jealous  and  discord- 
ant. Include  them  within  the  pale  of  a  single  or- 
ganization: would  all  men  straightway  hasten  to 
acknowledge  that  they  were  Jesus'  disciples,  and 
that  he  was  the  One  sent  from  the  Father  ?  Not 
if  they  were  still,  as  might  be  the  case,  jealous  and 
discordant  in  spirit;  not  if  they  were  carnal,  un- 
truthful, self-seeking;  not  if  they  were  tricksters 
in  trade  or  unkind  in  social  intercourse.  Not  be- 
cause of  mere  membership  in  an  undivided  Church. 
It  has  been  said  with  satirical  impatience  con- 
cerning the  idea  of  the  Invisible  Church,  "Away 
with  such  invisible  Christianity."  But  surely  or- 
ganization is  neither  the  only  nor  the  principal 
way  in  which  Christianity  becomes  visible.  "Fe 
are  the  light  of  the  M'orld."'  "Even  so  let  your 
light  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your 
good  worls  and  glorify  your  Father  who  is  in 
heaven." 

Yet  must  it  ever  be  remembered  that  one  of 
these  good  works,  through  which  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  becomes  a  visible  fact  on  earth,  is  the  cre- 
ating of  a  more  and  more  perfect  religious  organ- 
ism.^^     The  children  of  the  kingdom  will  ever  be 

^^Nothing  could  be  more  directly  in  the  line  of  this 
Christian  endeavor  than  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America,  recommended  as  a 
Plan  of  Federation  by  the  Interchurch  Conference: 


200  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

seeking,  from  the  first  Christian  century  till  that 
kingdom  shall  come  with  universal  power,  to  iinify 
the  churches,  inwardly  and  outwardly,  into  the  one 
catholic  Church. 

"3.  The  object  of  this  Federal  Council  shall  be: 

"(1)  To  express  the  fellowship  and  catholic  unity 
of  the  Christian  Church. 

"(2)  To  bi-ing  the  Christian  bodies  of  America 
into  united  service  for  Christ  and  the  world. 

"(3)  To  encourage  devotional  fellowship  and  mu- 
tual counsel  concerning  the  spiritual  life  and  reli- 
gious activities  of  the  Churches. 

"(4)  To  secure  a  larger  combined  influence  for  the 
churches  of  Christ  in  all  matters  affecting  the  moral 
and  social  condition  of  the  people,  so  as  to  promote 
the  application  of  the  law  of  Christ  in  every  relation 
of  human  life." 


Ill 
ACTivrriEs 


(201  > 


"Ingenuously  reading  the  apostolic  epistles,  we  rec- 
ognize— not  without  reluctance  indeed,  but  with  a 
deep-felt  and  devout  satisfaction — as  therein  seeing 
the  mind  of  Christ,  that  the  Christian  laity  are  not 
merely  to  be  in  the  Church,  not  merely  of  it,  but  that 
they,  with  their  ministers,  are  IT." — Isaac  Taylor. 

"The  laity  make  the  Church.  The  gospel  knows 
only  the  laity.  Ministers  are  only  laymen  intrusted 
with  a  special  mission.  What  is  best  in  the  minister 
is  the  layman.  A  Church  is  rich  when  it  has  many 
active  laymen,  old  and  young,  men  and  women." — 
Charles  Wagner. 

"Go,  teach;  it  is  the  sublimest  work." — Wyclif  to 
his  Poor  Priests. 

"All  service  ranks  the  same  with  God — 
There  is  no  last  or  first." 

— Robert  Browning. 

"The  Christianity  that  is  not  philanthropic  is  as 
defective  as  the  philanthropy  thai  is  not  Christian." 

"The  city  is  the  Gibraltar  of  our  civilization." — 
Josiah  Strong. 

"None  but  a  pierced  hand  can  hold  the  scepter  of 
universal  empire." — E.  R.  Hendrix. 

"The  Great  Charter  of  England  and  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  American  Union  are  present,  living  facts 
and  forces;  so,  and  far  more,  the  Great  Commission 
is  true,  valid,  binding  to-day  and  all  days  unto  the 
end  of  time,  the  supreme  law  of  the  Church  and  char- 
ter of  her  rights." — J.  C.  Oranbery. 
(202) 


THE  FELLOWSHIP  OF  WORK:  LAY 
ORGANIZATION^ 

The  Church  is  a  spiritual  mother:  "the  Jeru- 
salem that  is  above  is  free,  which  is  our  mother."^ 
But  this  endearing  figure  is  easily  susceptible  of 
misinterpretation.  The  Church  may  be  regarded 
as  a  mother  in  a  sacramentarian  sense.  Or  she 
may  be  thought  of  as  a  mother  of  children  in  their 
nonage  only ;  whereas  the  true  maternity  not  only 
cherishes  the  infant  in  his  dependence  but  trains 
him  up  for  independent  activity.  The  man  of 
fifty,  in  all  the  glory  of  matured  strength,  will 
have  as  filial  a  spirit  as  when  a  child;  but  thanks 
to  his  parents'  love  and  care,  he  has  long  been  able 
to  act  for  himself,  doing  a  man's  work  in  the 
world.  Motherhood  is  a  life-giving:  well  was  the 
first  woman  named  Eve,  or  Life.  But  life  is  real- 
ized in  growth,  fruitage,  action.  The  true  mother- 
love  is  too  wise  to  be  indulgent ;  and  a  faithful 
church  will  bind  the  armor  upon  all  her  sons  and 
send  them  forth  to  the  battles  of  the  Lord. 

The  word  "pastor,"  or  shepherd,  is  liable  to  a 
similar  misuse.  While  fitly  representing  one  im- 
portant relation  of  minister  and  people,   it  may 

^Gal.  iv.  26. 

(203) 


204  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

keep  other  and  equally  vital  relations  out  of  mind. 
This  ministerial  title,  though  used  as  such  onl}' 
once  in  the  whole  Testament,-  has  come  into  such 
common  iise  in  the  modern  Church  that  both  min- 
ister and  people  may  sometimes  need  to  be  re- 
minded that,  in  the  fulfillment  of  their  respective 
callings,  he  must  become  much  more  than  a  shep- 
herd, and  they  much  more  than  a  flock.^  A  shep- 
herd does  all,  his  flock  nothing.  But  the  minis- 
ter is  also  an  architect  and  the  people  the  builders. 
a  foreman  and  the  people  the  workmen. 


First  of  all,  the  Churcli  of  Christ  is  a  brother- 
hood of  believers  ;  then  of  worshipers,  of  witnesses, 
of  workers.  Without  the  faitli  of  the  Son  of  God  it 
could  never  have  arisen  and  would  have  no  rea- 
son to  be;  and  such  a  faith  will  express  itself  in 
Christian  worship  and  testimony.    Rut  it  will  also 

*Eph.  iv.  11. 

="It  is  here  [in  the  work  of  the  Church!  that  the 
professional  one-man  ministry  has  wrought  most 
havoc  with  democracy.  In  many  of  our  churches, 
particularly  the  smaller,  the  minister  has  done  every- 
thing except  pay  the  bills,  and  often  he  has  helped  to 
do  that.  The  members  have  settled  down  comforta- 
bly to  letting  him  do  everything.  Was  not  that  what 
they  employed  him  for?  The  whole  conception  of  the 
church  as  a  working  body  has  been  lost."  (Heer- 
mance,  "Democracy  in  the  Church,"  152.) 


The  Fellowship  of  Work  205 

pass  through  love  into  service ;  and  thus  the  wor- 
shiping and  witnessing  Church  will  become  a 
working  Church.  Its  highest  note  of  brotherhood 
will  be  the  brotherhood  of  industry ;  its  perfected 
communion,  the  strong  and  healthful  fellowship 
of  work.* 

This  being  true,  one  is  prepared  to  find  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  division  of  labor  (which  in  fact  is 
only  another  name  for  organization)  illustrated  in 
the  Church. 

A  universal  sign  of  advancing  life  is  the  in- 
creasing differentiation  of  function.     That  is  a 
very   rudimentary   sort   of   animal  in   which  the 
whole  body  breathes,  digests,  and  responds  to  irri- 
tation.    Let  the  lump  of  sensitive  matter  devel- 
op organs,  one  after  another,  each  to  do  its  own 
work  in  correlation  with  its  fellows,  and  the  whole 
Avorking   capacity   will   be   increased   many   fold. 
Here,  as  in  the  ant-hill  and  the  beehive,  may  be 
found  a  sub-human  forecast  of  human  society.  See 
its   fulfillment   in  every   sphere   of   the   civilized 
world's  industry — on  the  farm,  in  the  marts  of 
trade,  in  the  factory.     Ignoring  the  division  of 
labor,  no  industrial  establishment  could  even  be- 
gin to  be.     Ceasing  midway  to  make  application 
of  it  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  highest  per- 
fection and  the  largest  success. 

But  the  Church  has  not  yet  given  as  bright  and 

<Gal.  vi.  1-10. 


206  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

full  an  illustration  of  this  organic  principle  as 
inight  have  been  expected.  In  many  instances,  and 
through  long  ages,  a  few  men  were  set  apart  as 
office-bearers,  and  the  rest  left  practically  to  their 
own  impulses  without  any  common  understand- 
ing as  to  what  work  they  should  undertake.  These 
officers  were,  for  the  most  part,  the  clergy  and 
their  assistants,  no  serious  attempt  having  been 
made  to  organize  the  laity  for  service. 

All  will  admit  that  not  only  tlie  clerical  but  the 
Christian  life  is  for  service,  that  in  this  respect 
there  is  no  essential  difference  between  the  two 
but  both  alike  are  minisieria] ;  and  moreover  that 
the  world's  need  is  urgent  and  measureless.  Nor 
is  it  possible  to  estimate  the  greatness  of  the 
work  that  even  the  least  Christian  believer  may 
do.  "He,"  not  one  of  the  Twelve,  but  anybody, 
"that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall 
he  do  also,  and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he 
do."^  But  the  service  of  the  laity  has  not  usually 
been  taken  into  account  sufficiently  to  be  brought 
under  any  well-defined  regulation.  And  through 
this  defectiveness  of  organization  the  priestly  sen- 
timent is  fostered,  even  in  evangelical  communions, 
that  somehow  the  clergy  are  the  Church.  Let  them 
be  ordained  and  financially  supported  to  carry  on 
the  work  of  God  in  the  world.     Let  them  shep- 

''John  xiv.  12. 


Tlie  Fellowship  of  Work  207 

herd  their  flock  (and  live  as  they  may  off  the 
fleece) — this,  at  least,  tlie  feature  of  their  office 
that  overshadows  every  other. 

11 

Such  is  not  the  New  Testament  idea.  Indeed, 
the  difference  between  the  two  is  heaven-wide.  It 
is  true,  we  may  look  in  vain  through  the  New 
Testament  for  any  description  of  a  thoroughly 
organized  Church ;  but  the  principles  and  actual 
examples  which  we  do  find  make  it  clear  that  the 
field  for  the  organizing  of  Christian  service  is  the 
whole  congregation,  and  not  some  specific  and  se- 
lect part  of  it. 

In  the  teaching  of  Jesus  the  economy  of  the 
Church  is  seen  as  that  of  a  fair  and  ordered  house- 
hold in  which  each  several  servant  has  his  own 
part  to  perform.  To  the  household  not  as  a  body 
but  individually,  "to  each  one  (cKao-To),  to  the  men- 
servants  and  to  the  maid-servants,  to  every  one 
separately)  his  work,"® — for  the  King  and  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom. 

In  the  Pauline  epistles  it  is  shown  that  where 
the  Christians  were,  there  was  the  Church.  And 
unto  them  all,  without  any  such  distinction  of 
clergy  and  laity  as  arose  later,  were  communi- 
cated certain  spiritual  gifts,  to  be  used,  in  an 
orderly  manner,  as  opportunity  offered,  in  minis- 

*Mark  xiii.  34.    Cf.  Matt.  xxv.  14,  15. 


208  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

tration  to  all  men,  and  especially  to  the  household 
of  faith.  No  Christian  is  excluded  from  some  one 
of  the  many  offices  or  lines  of  service.  "To  each 
one  is  given  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  to 
profit  withal"  :  the  word  of  wisdom  (so</)ia,  proba- 
bly truth  as  received  through  scholarly  and  devout 
meditation),  the  word  of  knowledge  (yvwo-is,  prob- 
ably truth  as  received  through  intuition),  faith, 
healing,  working  of  miracles,  prophecy,  discern- 
ing of  spirits  (the  power  to  judge  religious  teach- 
ers— to  recognize  "truth,"  or  the  lack  of  it, 
"through  personality"),  tongues,  interpretation  of 
tongues.  "All  these  worketh  the  one  and  the 
same  Spirit,  dividing  to  each  one  severally  even 
as  he  will."'^ 

When  in  the  same  letter  to  the  Corinthians  the 
Apostle  enumerates  the  divers  gifts  and  callings 
tending  to  take  form  and  organize  themselves  into 
offices,  he  mentions  not  only  apostles,  prophets,  and 
teachers,  but  among  various  others,  "helps"  and 
"governments."^  Much  learned  inquiry  has  been 
devoted  to  the  last  two  terms,  to  discover  what 
particular  forms  of  ministration  they  are  intended 
to  connote.  But  their  very  vagueness  and  general- 
ity is  significant ;  for  it  suggests  that  there  is  some 
form  of  service,  not  unworthy  to  be  named  in 
connection  with  the  very  highest,  that  every  Chris- 

'1  Cor.  xii.  7-11.    Cf.  Rom.  xii.  4-8. 
«1  Cor.  xii.  27-30. 


TU  Fellowship  of  ^Vo7'h  209 

tian  has  been  set  in  the  Church  to  render.   "Apos- 
tles," "helps,"  "governments." 

It  would  be  as  erroneous  to  say  that  because 
some  one  apostle — such  as  Peter  or  Paul — was 
chief,  therefore  the  rest  were  not  sent  ones  at  all, 
as  to  say  that  because  some  one  member  of  an  apos- 
tolic Christian  society  was  by  way  of  preeminence  a 
minister,  therefore  the  rest  had  no  specific  minis- 
try to  fulfill.  In  idea  all  without  exception  were 
ministers.  All  should  go  among  their  fellows  to 
give  rather  than  to  get. 

Ill 

Let  it  be  noted  that  even  preaching,  as  indi- 
cated by  such  terms  as  "word  of  wisdom,"  "word 
of  knowledge,"  "prophet,"  "teacher,"  appears  as  a 
personal,  non-official  function.  There  was  "liberty 
of  prophesying."  No  one  needed  to  be  set  apart 
by  the  laying  on  of  hands,  or  by  any  ceremony  or 
form  of  words,  as  a  preacher.  One  of  Paul's  de- 
sires for  the  Christians  of  Corinth  was  that  they 
might  all  ^'prophesy."^  No  congregational  vote 
needed  to  be  taken.  Anybody  to  whom  the  word 
of  God  came  was  free  to  speak  it,  before  the  con- 
gregation or  elsewhere.  So,  as  these  Christian  wit- 
nesses went  about,  whether  driven  by  persecution, 
or  on  secular  business,  or  marching  as  soldiers,  or 
led  as  slaves,  or  for  the  express  purpose  of  evan- 

»1  Cor.  xiv.  5. 
14 


210  The  Idea,  of  the  Church 

gelism,  on  far  journeys  perhaps,  passing  along  the 
great  military  roads  that  threaded  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, or  along  that  greater  highway  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  they  made  known,  in  widely  sepa- 
rated places,  tlie  Name  in  which  they  had  found 
for  themselves  the  joy  of  a  new  and  blessed 
life. 

Think  of  an  Old  Testament  prophet  waiting  for 
ordination  or  any  sort  of  official  authorization,  be- 
fore uttering  the  message  that  Jehovah  had  given 
him  for  the  people.  The  priest,  indeed,  must  be 
formally  inducted  into  his  office,  but  not  the 
prophet.  So,  likewise,  with  the  New  Testament 
prophet,  or  preacher.  And  as  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment priest — there  was  none. 

So  we  read  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  of  the 
similar  acts  of  others  than  the  apostles.  Who,  for 
example,  did  the  preaching  at  Pentecost  ?  Not 
the  Apostle  Peter  alone;  but  they  "were  all  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  began  to  speak  with 
ofher  tongues,  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance."' 
Stephen  preached  Jesus  as  Christ  with  a  boldness 
that  incited  persecution  and  cost  him  his  life. 
Those  who  were  scattered  abroad  by  the  same  per- 
secution "went  about  preaching  the  word."^°  Cer- 
tain Cyprians  and  Cyrenians  went  as  far  as  An- 
tioch,  and  there  "spoke  unto  the  Greeks  also 
preaching  tlie  Lord  Jesus."^^     Philip,  one  of  the 

'"Acts  viii.  4.      "Acts  xi.  20. 


The  FelloxDsKip  of  Work  211 

Seven,  did  the  work  of  an  evangelist  in  Samaria 
and  in  various  towns  of  the  Mediterranean  coast 
plain;  and  liis  daughters  prophesied.^-  x\quila 
and  his  wife  Priscilla,  as  spiritual  teachers,  took 
the  learned  preacher  Apollos  and  instructed  liim  in 
the  way  of  Christ  more  perfectly. ^^ 

The  explanation  of  it  all  was  given  hy  Peter,  on 
the  birthday  of  the  Church  of  the  Xew  Covenant, 
when  he  declared  the  prophecy^*  to  be  fulfilling, 
that  on  the  sons  and  daughters,  on  the  j^oung  men 
and  the  old  men,  on  men-servants  and  women-serv- 
ants, the  Spirit  should  be  poured  forth,  and  they 
should  prophesy.  It  was  the  truth  of  a  universal 
prophetism  taking  form  for  the  world's  evangeli- 
zation. 

Let  it  be  noted,  however,  that  the  men  and  wom- 
en who  Avere  gifted  with  edifjang  speech  before  the 
congregation  would  be  recognized  without  formal 
appointment  as  preachers  or  teachers.  The  service 
which  they  were  able  to  render  they  would  be  ex- 
pected to  render,  while  the  presumptuous  and  the 
unqualified  would  be  rejected. ^^ 

Thus  would  arise  a  real,  though  informal,  min- 
istry of  preaching  in  the  Christian  assembly.  A 
good  illustrative  modern  example  might  be  found 
in  the  Society  of  Friends.  Here  every  act  of  true 
preaching  is  believed  to  be  prompted  immediately 

"Acts  viii.;  xxi.  9.     '^Acts  xviii.  24-28.    '"Joel  ii.  28. 
'■■1  Thess.  V.  21;  1  John  iv.  1;  Rev.  ii.  2. 


212  The  Idea  of  the  Church. 

b}'  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  whom  it  may  be  borne  in 
upon  the  mind  of  any  Christian,  young  or  old, 
man  or  woman,  at  any  time  or  place,  to  speak 
some  word  of  God;  and  the  inference  is  drawn 
that  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  not  to  be  desig- 
nated b}^  any  human  authority.  Xo  ordination, 
no  license,  no  vote  is  given.  And  yet,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  certain  men  and  women  rather  than  others 
do  become  ministers,  and  are  distinctly  known 
and  published  as  such. 

Indeed,  it  is  a  Quaker  custom  to  record  in  the 
books  of  the  "Monthly  Meeting"  the  names  of 
those  persons,  men  or  women,  who,  by  their  edify- 
ing speecli  from  time  to  time  in  the  congregation, 
have  gained  common  recognition  as  ministers  of 
Cod's  word.^'' 

This  lay  evangelism  (as  we  perhaps  would  call 
it)  did  not  cease  with  the  death  of  the  twelve 
apostles.  In  the  meager  reports  of  the  sub-apos- 
tolic Church  arc  notices  of  preachers  who  are  rec- 
ognized imder  the  name  of  "apostles,"  "prophets," 
"teachers,"  not  because  of  any  ordination  or  hu- 
man appointment,  but  because  of  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  shown  in  their  speech  and  conduct.  They 
wore  chiefly  itinerant.  And  they  had  a  wide  field 
in  \vliich  to  labor ;  for  Eome  had  done  what  Alex- 

*'Barclay,  "Theological  Theses,"  Prop.  X.;  McClin- 
tock  and  Strong's  "Cyclopedia,"  Art.  Friends;  Tel- 
ford, "History  of  Lay  Preaching,"  pp.  125,  126. 


The  Fellowship  of  Work  213 

ander  the  Great  in  his  day  essayed  to  do — had 
subdued  the  nations  into  the  unity  of  a  common 
government,  breaking  down  the  barriers  between 
land  and  land.  There  had  been  providentially 
prepared  for  the  itinerants,  also,  a  common  and 
suitable  language,  the  Greek,  in  which  to  clothe 
their  message.  So  they  went  about  in  the  Mas- 
ters name,  and  as  they  went,  preached. 

A  singularly  valued  and  influential  form  of 
service,  as  \\e  learn  from  various  sources,  was  this 
'lay"  preaching  of  the  sub-apostolic  age.  "Con- 
cerning the  apostles  and  prophets,"  says  the  Di- 
dache,  "according  to  the  decree  of  the  gospel,  thus 
do.  Let  every  apostle  that  cometh  to  you  be  re- 
ceived as  the  Lord."^^  That  indeed  would  be  a 
glad  and  reverent  reception,  which  no  one  of 
them  would  dare  ask  for  himself — "received  as  the 
Lord." 

IV 

But  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  best  things 
are  precisely  those  that  are  most  grievously  abused, 
it  will  not  be  surprising  that  the  name  of  "proph- 
et" and  "teacher"  was  sometimes  taken  by  idle 
run-abouts,  with  selfish  motives.  Already  in  the 
N"ew  Testament  times  a  warning  against  self-ap- 
pointed teachers  was  called  for.  "Be  not  many 
teachers,  my  brethren,"  says  James  in  his  Epistle, 

"Didache,  c,  XI. 


214  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

"knowing  that  we  shall  receive  heavier  judg- 
ment.'"^'' 

The  Church  in  Ephesus  is  commended  for  try- 
ing those  who  "call  themselves  apostles,  and  they 
are  not,"^^  and  finding  them  liars.  In  the  Di- 
dache,  also,  while  enjoined  under  an  awful  sanc- 
tion, not  to  "try  or  judge"  the  true  prophet  who 
had  proved  himself  to  be  such,  the  churches  are 
warned  against  pretenders;  and  certain  tests  are 
prescribed  for  discrimination  between  the  false 
and  the  true  prophets. -° 

In  the  later  writings,  even  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, the  allusions  to  itinerants  disappear.  The 
ministry  has  become  predominantly  or  altogether 
local,  and  consequently  less  missionary  in  charac- 
ter. Moreover,  the  bishop,  or  regularly  elected 
pastor,  is  coming  to  claim  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  as  peculiarly  a  function  of  his  official  po- 
sition. 

Nevertheless  lay  preaching  continues,  a  well- 
marked  though  decreasing  evangelistic  force, 
throughout  these  early  days  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Celsus,  as  quoted  by  Origen  in  his  "Ee- 
ply,"^^  scoffingly  declares  that  "workers  in  wool 
and  leather,  and  fullers,  and  persons  of  the  most 
tininstructed  and  rustic  character^'  were  harangu- 

'*Chap.  iii.  1. 

'^Rev.  ii.  2.  Cf.  Acts  xx.  30;  2  Cor.  xi.  14;  1  John 
iv.  1. 

==°Didache,  c.  XI.     ^'"Against  Celsus,"  cc.  55-58. 


The  Fellowship  of  ^Vorh  215 

ing  the  boys,  young  men,  and  women  on  the  tenets 
of  the  gospel — which,  being  interpreted,  means  a 
fervid  and  effective,  though  sometimes  doubtless 
crude  or  extravagant,  lay  evangelism  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  second  century. 

But  the  initial  movements  toward  lay  organiza- 
tion were  arrested  through  the  encroachments  of 
officialism.  The  officers  tended  to  become  the  ac- 
tive Church,  and  the  people  receivers  only.  This 
tendency  reached  its  climax  in  the  hierarchy.  And 
when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  side  by  side  with 
sacerdotalism  came  muUitudinism,  obliterating 
the  distinction  between  the  Church  and  the 
world,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  apostolic 
principle  of  the  Church  as  an  assembly  of  re- 
newed souls,  all  at  work,  each  using  his  proper 
gift  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  body  and  the 
advancement  of  the  common  cause,  was  no  longer 
held  in  honor.  The  people  were  invited  less  and 
less  to  participate  in  organized  work  and  enter- 
prise. It  was  the  spirit  of  the  prevalent  ecclesi- 
asticism  to  retain  them  in  the  infantile  stage  of 
development,  without  promise  of  promotion  to  the 
responsibilities  of  manhood. 

Some  relief  was  afforded  by  the  monastery.  For 
in  this  essentially  lay  institution  the  monk  had 
certain  regular  work  assigned  him  for  the  out- 
side world,  as  a  transcriber  or  a  teacher  or  a 
bread-giver  or  a  missioner,  and  thus  found  mem- 
bership in  a  fraternity  at  once  of  recluses  and 


216  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

workers.  Even  the  zealous  preaching  friars  of 
later  times  might  be  either  priests  or  laymen. 
Francis  of  Assisi  himself  was  only  a  deacon.  It 
was  the  true  idea  of  the  working  Church,  forced 
into  partial  and  unchristian  methods  of  self-reali- 
zation— and  ending  in  disaster. 


Protestantism  itself  was  slow  to  revive  the  New 
Testament  conception  of  the  working  Church. 
Its  distinctly  conscious  purpose  was  to  win  for  the 
laity  their  rights,  rather  than  provide  them  their 
opportunities,  and  organize  them  into  a  fellowship 
of  work.  Elders,  appointed  as  the  minister's  asso- 
ciates, were  specifically  ruling  elders.  Deacons, 
indeed,  were  laymen,  and  were  charged  with  a 
work  of  beneficence.  But  tlie  idea  of  calling  into 
requisition  the  regular  services  of  the  laity  as 
a  body,  does  not  ajipear.  The  minister,  no  longer 
a  priest,  had  become  a  well-qualified  teacher,  but 
not  as  yet  distinctly  a  director  of  congregational 
activities. 

As  to  lay  preaching  among  Protestants,  how- 
ever, in  the  congregations  of  the  Independents 
and  the  Baptists  it  was  by  no  means  rare.  In  the 
time  of  the  Commonwealth  it  became  notably 
prevalent  among  the  soldiers  of  Cromwell's  army. 
Often,  no  doubt,  it  deserved  the  ridicule  that 
was  so  freely  expended  upon  it  because  of  the 


The  Fellowship  of  Work  217 

grotesque  fanaticism  of  the  preachers.  Yet  one 
may  question  whether  its  faults  in  this  direction 
were  really  more  injurious  to  the  cause  of  true  reli- 
gion than  were  those  of  the  ordained  ministry  of 
the  churches  in  certain  other  directions.  Richard 
Baxter,  pained  by  its  excesses,  deplored  the  lay 
preaching  of  that  day:  the  Lord  Protector  de- 
fended it  on  Scripture  principles — "I  hope  He 
that  ascended  up  on  high  may  give  His  gifts  to 
whom  He  pleases;  and  if  those  gifts  be  the  seal 
of  mission,  be  not  you  envious  though  Eldad  and 
Medad  prophesy." 

But  the  first  conspicuous  example  of  the  or- 
ganized laity  in  modern  Christianity  was  fur- 
nished by  Methodism.  The  United  Societies  were 
formed,  it  is  true,  for  the  simple  purpose  of 
"spreading  scriptural  holiness."  The  whole  life 
of  their  founder  was  in  attestation  of  this  pur- 
pose. iSTo  man  of  his  age  was  worthier  of  the 
name  "saint,"'  greatly  as  it  would  have  grieved 
him  to  be  called  by  such  a  title.  But  Wesley's 
holiness  of  character  was  no  less  pronounced  in  its 
positive  than  in  its  negative  aspects.  The  story  of 
his  diligence  in  doing  good,  had  it  come  down 
through  tradition  from  ancient  or  medieval  times, 
would  have  been  rejected  as  incredible.  And  as 
he  devoted  his  own  powers  without  stint  to  the 
benefit  of  his  fellow-men,  so  he  would  fain  be  able 
to  say  of  "the  people  called  Methodists,"  that  thej 
were  "all  at  it,  and  alwavs  at  it." 


218  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

It  was  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  in  the  Socie- 
ties a  strong  emphasis  was  laid  upon  Christian 
work.  One  of  the  conditions  of  continuance  in 
membership  was  constant  ministration,  as  oppor- 
tunity offered,  to  both  the  physical  and  the  spirit- 
ual wants  of  men.  Xor  was  tlie  founder's  directive 
and  governing  faculty  satisfied  with  so  general  a 
rule.  As  occasion  suggested  from  time  to  time 
the  common  beneficent  energy  and  effort  must  be 
organized.  Class  leaders  were  appointed  as  sub- 
pastors,  to  watch  over  the  little  companies  com- 
mitted to  their  care,  as  they  that  must  give  ac- 
count. Lay  preachers,  both  local  and  itinerant, 
were  authorized  to  minister  in  the  congregation. 
Lay  prayer  meetings,  in  which  the  gifts  of  prayer, 
counsel,  and  exhortation  might  be  exercised,  were 
instituted.  Regular  contributions  of  money  were 
made  by  the  entire  membership.  Stewards  were 
placed  over  the  funds  thus  created,  to  pay  the  So- 
ciety expenses  and  relieve  the  wants  of  the  sick 
and  the  poor.  As  the  steward's  assistants,  visit- 
ors of  the  sick  were  appointed.  The  ideal  whose 
realization  this  economy  sought  to  promote  was 
unquestionably  that  of  the  organized  ministering 
Church.-^ 

^-"Wesley's  institute  has  a  high  merit  on  this 
ground — that  social  organization  so  thoroughly  per- 
vades it,  and  is  its  very  soul,  and  is  carried  out  from 
its  center  to  its  extremities,  taking  hold  of,  assimi- 


The  FeUotv.^hip  of  Worl'  219 

Within  the  hist  fifty  years  the  endeavor  to  give 
economic  embodiment  to  this  idea  of  the  woi'king 
Church  has  become  generah-^ 

There  was  a  time,  in  the  days  of  our  remote  an- 
cestors, when  the  military  chieftain  fought  willi 
his  own  sword  at  the  head  of  his  troops  in  tlie 

lating,  and  employing  absolutely  every  individual  en- 
rolled on  its  lists."  (Isaac  Taylor,  "Wesley  and  Meth- 
odism," pp.  248,  249.) 

"Our  ministerial  system  presupposes  and  requires 
lay  labor  of  many  kinds.  At  least  three-fourths  of 
our  meetings  have  been  and  are  conducted  by  lay- 
men. .  .  .  The  danger  of  Methodism,  now  and  in 
the  future,  is  that  of  settling  down  in  I'espectable 
and  prosperous  churches,  having  good  preaching, 
singing,  and  attendance,  and  paying  to  get  the  work 
done  vicariously  by  professional  workers,  which 
ought  to  be  done  by  themselves."  (Mr.  T.  H.  Bain- 
bridge,  "Address"  in  the  First  Ecumenical  Methodist 
Conference,  1881,  p.  424.) 

Cf.  Telford,  "History  of  Lay  Preaching,"  Chap.  V. 

^But  not  as  notably  earnest,  persistent,  and  suc- 
cessful thus  far  as  it  ought  to  be  and  will  become. 
"The  greatest  undeveloped  resources  in  the  Christian 
Chui'ch  to-day  are  the  unused  activities  and  powers 
of  the  laymen.  There  are  about  eight  millions  of  them 
in  the  Protestant  Churches  of  America.  Only  a  very 
small  fraction  are  actively  engaged  in  the  work  of 
propagating  the  gospel."  (J.  Campbell  White,  "Ad- 
dress" at  Volunteer  Student  Convention,  1906.) 

The  Northern  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
at  its  last  meeting  (1906),  took  action  looking  toward 
the  organizing  of  the  men  of  all  its  congregations  into 
a  great  united  brotherhood  of  lay  workers. 


220  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

thickest  of  the  fight.  Now  he  is  seen  taking  his 
place  at  some  point  of  observation  to  direct  tlie 
movements  of  the  army.  There  was  a  time,  not 
two  centuries  ago,  when  the  manufacturer — say, 
of  woolen  cloth  or  of  shoes — wrought  with  his 
own  hands,  one  or  more  apprentices  or  journey- 
men perhaps  at  his  side,  each  workman  producing, 
or  learning  to  produce,  the  complete  article.  Xow 
he  stands  at  the  head  of  an  industrial  establish- 
ment, with  its  various  departments,  to  devise  plans, 
furnish  materials,  and  superintend  his  corps  of 
sub-managers  and  workmen.  Somewhat  similar 
has  been  the  process  of  change  in  the  Christian 
pastorate.  The  pastor,  while  still  a  genuine  pas- 
tor, is  becoming  distinctly  more  than  in  preceding- 
generations  the  leader  of  a  little  modern  army, 
the  superintendent  of  an  industrial  establishment. 
Shall  it  be  asserted,  then,  that  in  our  time  the 
sense  of  personal  responsibility  for  the  salvation 
of  men  is  deeper,  or  the  love  of  Christians  for  their 
neighbors  more  real,  or  the  passion  for  souls  less 
exceptional  than  formerly?  Such  an  assertion 
could  not  be  proved.  Neither  can  it  be  shown 
that  the  pulpit  is  more  faithful  than  formerly  in 
its  appeals  for  love  and  service  toward  the  world 
in  Christ's  name.  It  may  be,  indeed,  that  in  the 
earlier  half  of  the  nineteenth  centry,  as  com- 
pared with  the  latter  half,  greater  stress  was  laid 
upon  the  saving  of  one's  own  soul  and  less  upon 
the  savins^  of  the  souls  of  others ;  and  that  accord- 


The  Fellowship  of  Work  221 

ingly  the  Church  was  looked  upon  as  the  ark  of 
safety  for  the  elect  rather  than  as  a  ship  on  the 
wide  waters  of  the  world  with  its  sails  set  to  every 
breeze  that  blows,  in  the  effort  to  gain  and  carry 
all  possible  passengers.  Where  the  pulpit  teach- 
ing was  embarrassed  Math  unteachable  doctrines 
of  election,  the  narrower  view  would  be  inevitable. 

Besides,  it  can  hardly  be  denied  that  in  the 
teaching  of  the  churches  generally  there  has  been 
an  enlargement  of  the  thought  of  personal  sal- 
vation as  a  deliverance  out  of  sin  and  into  the 
love  of  God  and  man.  We  would  fain  believe  that 
the  Spirit  of  truth  is  thus  leading  his  pupils  into 
all  the  truth,  still  revealing,  as  through  commun- 
ion with  him  they  are  made  able  to  receive,  the 
deeper  things  of  God's  word. 

It  is  certain  at  least  that  the  expression  of  the 
idea  of  service  in  the  Churches  is  becoming  larger 
and  more  varied. 

O  Lord,  we  most  of  all  give  thanks 
That  this  thy  world  is  incomplete. 

That  battle  calls  our  marshaled  ranks, 
That  work  awaits  our  hands  and  feet. 

Organization  is  attending  more  closely  upon  in- 
spiration. The  Sunday  Schools,  the  Young  Peo- 
ple's Societies,  the  Woman's  Boards  of  Missions, 
Aid  Societies,  Mothers'  Meetings,  Mission  Schools, 
Industrial  Classes,  and  many  Unions,  Leagues, 
Brotherhoods,  Guilds,  and  Committees,  are  the 
signs  of  this  increasing  organization  of  the  laity 


222  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

— men  and  women — for  the  Lord's  work  in  an 
age  of  luxury  and  Avant,  of  mammon  worship  and 
vagrants. 

Nor  need  the  hiyman  think  of  his  position,  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  minister,  as  wholly  disad- 
vantageous. In  one  important  respect  at  least  the 
advantage  is  in  his  favor.  His  work  is  non-oflficial. 
Concerning  the  minister's  service  men  may  say,  It 
is  his  professional  duty,  which  he  is  paid  to  per- 
form. But  no  such  disparaging  thought  can  ob- 
trude to  blunt  the  edge  of  the  private  Christian's 
spiritual  or  beneficent  work.  Why  should  he  give 
time  and  labor  to  doing  good,  unless  his  heart  be 
in  it?  People  will  acknowledge,  without  silently 
discounting,  his  sincerity  and  goodness. 

VI 

Thorougli  organization  for  service  is  too  par- 
ticular and  minute  a  matter  for  synodical  regula- 
tion. It  can  be  accomplished  only  by  each  local 
congregation  for  itself.  In  every  case  it  will  be 
brought  about  and  perfected  by  one  man — the  pas- 
tor. Is  he  fully  awake  to  the  demands  of  the  pas- 
toral office?  He  will  not  be  satisfied  till  every 
member  of  the  church  has  some  recognized  place, 
however  simple  tlie  duties  it  calls  for,  in  his  plan 
of  operations.  He  will  understand  that  the  as- 
cended Christ  "gave  some  to  be  apostles,  and  some 
prophets,  and  some  evangelists,  and  some  pastors 


The  Fellowship  of  Work  223 

and  teachers,  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints  unto 
the  work  of  ministering.'''^'^  This  "perfecting  of 
the  saints,"  one  and  all,  as  ministers,  will  involve 
on  his  part  not  only  teaching  and  excitation,  but 
the  often  more  difficult  task  of  training  and  direct- 
orship.-^ Very  probably  it  might  be  easier  for  him 
to  teach  a  Sunday-school  class,  but  he  knows  it  to 
be  better  that  he  should  instruct  and  train  the 
Sunday-school  teachers  themselves.  He  will  prove 
a  personal  friend  to  the  young  people,  but  an  ob- 
ject ever  kept  in  view  will  be  to  get  them  to  speak 
and  pray  and  read  the  Scriptures  in  their  own 
meetings,  to  help  one  another,  and,  like  Andrew 
the  brother  of  Simon  Peter,  to  go  out  and  bring 
their  fellows  to  Jesus.  His  pastoral  visits  will  be 
multiplied  by  the  appointment  of  deaconesses  and 
committees  of  visitation  to  the  strangers  in  the 
community,  the  afflicted,  and  the  unchurched.  It 
will  not  be  "meet"  for  him  to  "serve  tables,"  but 
he  will  see  that  the  congregation  shall  look  out  for 
itself  suitable  financial  servants.  For  each  one's 
own  sake,  as  well  as  for  the  promotion  of  the  gen- 

^'^Eph.  iv.  11,  12. 

-'^"To  the  sermon  I  would  assign  the  highest  place 
in  Christian  instruction  and  inspiration.  ,  .  .  Not 
less  preaching,  but  more;  not  less  learning,  but  more; 
not  less  eloquence,  but  more;  but,  above  all  present 
human  instruments,  ability  to  put  a  church  to  work 
in  its  community,  is  the  need."  (Thwing,  "The  Work- 
ing Church,"  pp.  20,  21.) 


224  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

eral  good,  even  the  most  poorly  gifted,  even  the 
j-Qungest  child,  will  he  counted  worthy  of  recogni- 
tion as  a  part  of  the  working  force  of  the  church. 
Shall  any  less  thoroughgoing  principle  or  any 
lower  ideal  be  accepted?  "According  as  each  hath 
received  a  gift,  ministering  it  among  yourselves."-'' 
"To  each  one  his  work." 

It  is  a  gratuitous  service.  "Freely  ye  received : 
freely  give."^^  Jesus  taught,  indeed,  that  the  la- 
borer is  worthy  of  his  hire  ;-'*  but  the  hire  of  which 
he  spoke  was  not  a  stipulated  price  for  value  re- 
ceived: it  was  food  and  lodging  needed  by  the 
traveling  evangelist  and  kindly  offered  by  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  he  came.  The  noble  things  of  life 
are  not  Avrought  for  i)ay :  they  are  done  through 
the  higher  enthusiasm  of  duty  and  love.  It  is  not 
for  fifteen  dollars  a  month  that  the  patriot  soldier 
faces  the  iron  storm  of  battle.  It  is  not  for  a 
salary  that  the  lover  of  science  and  humanity 
spends  the  days  of  the  years  of  his  life  in  the  labo- 
ratory, searching  out  nature's  secrets  for  the  wide 
world's  use  and  weal.  So  the  vast  Christian  broth- 
erhood that  are  doing  the  Church's  work  because 
they  believe  it  to  be  Christ's  work,  are  not  in  this 
cause  for  material  support  or  money  making.  They 
are  gii'lng  their  money  as  well  as  their  labor,  hop- 
ing for  no  return. 

=«1  Pet.  iv.  10.      ='Matt.  x.  8. 

^Luke  X.  7.  In  Matt.  x.  10  the  word  is  "the  laborer 
is  Avorthy  of  his  food  {-poipfjr)." 


The  Fellov3ship  of  'Work  225 

Of  the  Christian  ministry,  however,  it  has  been 
said  with  unimpeachable  authority  that  "tliey  who 
proclaim  the  gospel  should  live  of  the  gospel";-® 
and  'let  him  that  is  taught  in  the  word  commu- 
nicate unto  him  that  teacheth,  in  all  good 
things."^"  Does  not  this  make  ministers  an  ex- 
ception to  the  rule  of  gratuitous  service?  On  the 
contrary,  they  should  be  its  brightest  examples. 
When  permitted  to  support  themselves,  their 
preaching  services  are  rendered,  like  those  of  a 
Sunday-school  superintendent  or  any  other  work- 
er, without  "compensation."  To  utter  the  living 
truth  which  the  Spirit  reveals  in  the  heart,  and 
declare  to  men  the  gospel  of  the  remission  of  sins, 
on  condition  that  the  preaching  shall  be  paid  for 
with  so  much  money,  is  to  be  a  pretender  and  a 
false  prophet."^  Only  when  a  congregation  re- 
quires that  the  minister  shall  devote  his  whole 
time  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  does  it  engage  to 

='1  Cor.  ix.  14.  The  Apostle  says  "even  so  did  the 
Loi'd  [Jesus]"  ordain  this.  Cf.  the  passages  quoted 
above,  Matt.  x.  10;  Luke  x.  7. 

'"Gal.  vi.  6. 

^'"The  man  who  seems  to  have  the  Spirit  exalts 
himself,  and  wishes  to  have  the  first  seat,  .  .  .  and 
takes  rewards  for  his  prophecy;  and  if  he  does  not 
receive  rewards  he  does  not  prophesy.  Can,  then,  the 
Divine  Spirit  take  rewards  and  prophesy?  It  is  not 
possible  that  the  Spirit  of  God  should  do  this,  but 
prophets  of  this  character  are  possessed  of  an  earthly 
spirit,"  (Hermas,  "Pastor,  Mandata,"  XI.) 
15 


226  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

care  meantime  for  his  temporal  wants.  Does  it 
fail  in  this  duty?  His  ministerial  commission  is 
not  thereby  rendered  invalid.  It  was  invalid  from 
the  first  unless  it  were  received  from  on  high ;  and 
if  it  be  indeed  from  God,  to  him  only  may  it  be 
surrendered.-'- 

With  or  without  pecuniary  maintenance,  the 
true  apostle,  prophet,  teacher  will  make  full  proof, 
according  to  ability  and  opportunity,  of  the  min- 
istry which  he  has  "received  of  Ihe  Lord  Jesus/' 
In  the  light  of  a  spirit  of  faith  and  love  will  the 
Divine  ordinance,  that  those  who  preach  the  gos- 

^=The  example  of  Paul  is  here,  as  in  so  many 
things,  a  clear  and  shining  light.  Delivering  to  the 
Corinthians  the  Lord's  commandment  that  those  who 
preach  the  gospel  shall  live  of  the  gospel,  he  reminds 
them  that,  as  for  himself,  he  "did  not  use  this  right," 
in  Corinth,  lest,  under  the  existing  circumstances,  he 
might  cause  "hindrance  to  the  gospel  of  Christ."  He 
would  "bear  all  things"  rather  than  do  that.  (1  Cor. 
ix.  12.)  In  like  manner  he  asks  the  Thessalonians  to 
remember  that  on  his  first  visit  to  them  he  and  his 
fellow-evangelists  worked,  night  and  day,  that  they 
might  preach  the  gospel  without  making  themselves 
a  burden  to  any  of  their  converts — though  they  might 
justly  have  "been  burdensome  as  apostles  of  Christ." 
(1  Thess.  ii.  6,  9.)  Nevertheless  he  did,  in  other 
cases,  receive  voluntary  contributions  from  churches 
he  had  served,  "taking  wages  of  them," — for  example, 
of  the  Church  in  Philippi, — and  with  the  warmest 
Christian  courtesy  did  he  acknowledge  these  "wages." 
(2  Cor.  xi.  8,  9;  Phil.  iv.  11-18.) 


The  Fellowship  of  Work  227 

pel  shall  live  of  the  gospel,  find  its  interpretation. 
It  is  the  same  spirit  which  from  the  beginning  has 
prompted  whatever  is  best  in  both  the  work  and 
the  polity  of  the  Christian  Church. 


VII 

The  most  widely  extended  form  of  lay  organiza- 
tion for  service  in  the  modern  Church  is  the  Sun- 
day school.  Imagine  the  loss  of  religious  life  and 
activity  that  would  ensue  were  this  institution 
abolished.  Originating  with  a  layman,  its  first 
teachers  four  women,  it  has  continued  through  all 
its  marvelous  course  of  development  to  organize 
the  laity  in  the  work  of  biblical  teaching  and  evan- 
gelization. Could  the}^  be  honored  with  any  higher 
functions?  And  as  to  the  superintendency  of  a 
Sunday  school,  it  would  tax  any  imagination  to 
conceive  of  an  office  of  larger  opportunities,  with 
their  resulting  inspiration  and  responsibility,  for 
the  Christian  layman. 

Who  are  more  trusted  than  the  superintendent 
and  teachers  of  the  Sunday  school?  Unto  their 
instruction  and  moral  influence  the  impressionable 
mind  of  the  child  is  committed  Sunday  after  Sun- 
day. Looking  at  the  matter  abstractly,  one  M^ould 
say  that  such  instructors  are  too  poorly  qualified 
to  justify  their  undertaking.  For  many  of  them 
are  young  men  and  women  without  either  expe- 
rience or  extraordinary  gifts  and  character,  and 


228  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

with  practically  no  training  for  their  high  office. 
Training  they  should  have  at  the  hands  of  the 
church  which  employs  them.  Yet,  after  the  apos- 
tolic model,  the  faithful  ones  are  using  such  gifts 
as  they  possess  to  do  such  work  as  seems  demanded 
at  their  hands ;  giving,  though  never  so  imper- 
fectly, what  has  been  freely  given  to  them ;  many 
workers,  one  work.  And  here  is  the  secret  of  the 
Church's  ever-increasing  achievement  through  the 
Sunday  school.^^  Infinitely  significant  is  their 
service  of  Christly  love :  ''Whoso  receiveth  one  such 
little  child  in  my  name,  receiveth  me."^'  Upon 
their  faces  some  time  shall  rest  the  fadeless  glory 
of  heaven:  "They  that  be  wise  [margin,  ihe  teach- 
ers] shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firma- 
ment."^^ 

A  more  recent  movement  is  the  Young  People's 
Societies.  In  Great  Britain  it  is  represented  by 
various  guilds  for  the  promotion  of  religious  cul- 
ture and  usefulness.  In  our  own  country,  begin- 
ning in  pronounced  and  effective  form  in  the  year 

^"The  ordinary  Sunday  school  is  more  closely 
modeled  upon  the  meeting  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians than  is  the  gathering  of  saints  for  the  Sunday 
morning  preaching  service.  ...  It  has  an  inde- 
pendent life  that  survives  and  even  flourishes  during 
a  long  pastoral  interregnum.  Is  this  because  it  con- 
forms more  nearly  to  the  apostolic  conception  of  the 
church  than  the  church  itself  does?"  (Judson,  "The 
Institutional  Church,"  pp.  104,  105.) 

"Matt,  xviii.  5.      '^Dan.  xii.  3. 


The  Fellowship  of  Work  229 

1881  with  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  it  has  made  rapid  progress  in  all  the 
Churches. 

As  the  Sunday  school  is  especially  to  teach,  so 
the  Young  People's  Societies,  as  supplementary 
institutions,  are  especially  to  train  for  Christian 
work.  All  members  are  under  obligation  to  take 
part  in  the  meetings,  and  to  do  whatever  outside 
work  may  be  assigned  them.  The  organizations 
have  been  laid  out  along  broad,  comprehensive 
lines  of  Christian  life  and  service.  Not  only  are 
meetings  to  be  held  for  prayer.  Scripture  reading, 
testimonjr,  and  the  discussion  of  religious  topics, 
but  reading  courses  are  followed  and  beneficent 
work,  "charity  and  help,"  undertaken  in  the  com- 
munity. The  obstacles  to  success  are  not  few  nor 
slight ;  but  the  present  generation  has  made  no 
other  such  positive  and  prominent  endeavor  to 
train  for  the  working  church  in  all  Christian 
communions,  as  that  which  has  taken  form  in  the 
various  Young  People's  Societies. 

Gathered  about  the  suffering  Christ,  in  the 
Upper  Eoom,  receiving  from  his  hand  the  bread 
and  cup  of  the  Last  Supper,  the  apostles  repre- 
sented not  the  office-bearers  of  the  Church,  but 
the  Church  itself.  All  Christian  disciples,  as 
well  as  these  eleven,  were  to  be  partakers  of  that 
holy  communion.  Gathered  about  the  risen  Christ, 
on  the  Mount  of  Ascension,  receiving  from  his 


230  The  Idea  of  the  ChurcK 

lips  the  Great  Commission,  these  same  apostles 
represented  not  the  office-bearers  of  the  Church, 
but  its  witness-bearers,  the  Church  itself.  All 
Christian  disciples,  as  well  as  these  eleven,  were  to 
be  partakers  in  tliat  holy  evangelism. 

It  is  this  personal,  voluntary,  common  service 
that  is  to  be  organized. 


II 

nmCTION:  PROCLAIMING,  TEACHING, 
SPIKITUAL  NURTURE 

Function  may  l^e  described  as  the  proper  ac- 
tion of  a  vital  power.  The  term  is  applied  to 
nothing  below  the  realm  of  the  living;  but  within 
this  realm  its  range  of  application  is  very  wide — 
say,  from  the  absorption  of  moisture  by  the  root 
of  a  plant  to  the  execution  of  national  laws  by  the 
president  of  a  world-power.  For  it  is  used  to  rep- 
resent the  action  not  only  of  individuals  as  such, 
but  also  of  organizations — as,  for  instance,  a 
6oard  of  trust,  a  legislature,  a  nation,  a  church. 

But  since  organizations  have  no  actual  exist- 
ence save  in  the  person  of  the  individuals  that  com- 
pose them,  the  action  of  an  organization  is  sim- 
ply the  combined  action  of  these  constituent  indi- 
viduals, or  the  representative  action  of  a  certain 
number  of  them.  So,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
there  is  no  ideal  company  of  Christians  or  of 
Christian  ministers  somehow  performing  myste- 
rious ecclesiastical  functions.  It  is  simply  a  ques- 
tion of  what  each  individual  Church  member  is 
intended  to  do  for  the  coming  of  Christ's  king- 
dom. Not,  indeed,  what  he  is  to  do  as  an  inde- 
pendent individual,  but  what  he  is  to  do  in  con- 

(231) 


232  Tlie  Idea  of  tie  Church 

junction  with  his  fellow-Christians — when,  for  ex- 
ample, all  alike  contribute  to  the  extension  of  the 
gospel  or  seek  to  win  men  to  Christ ;  or  through 
some  representative — as  when  there  is  one  who 
stands  before  the  congregation  to  preach,  while 
the  rest  sustain  him  with  sympathy,  prayer,  and 
material  maintenance. 


In  the  New  Testament  churches,  what  a  man 
did  for  the  good  of  others  with  the  truth  which  he 
luid  received,  was  determined  by  two  things — by 
gifts  and  love.  "Follow  after  love;  yet  desire 
earnestly  spiritual  gifts. "^ 

These  gifts  were  diverse  powers  of  thought, 
speech,  prayer,  healing,  leadership,  helpful  giving, 
and  government,  graciously  imparted  to  Christ's 
people  in  the  apostolic  age,  for  the  common  serv- 
ice. "Having  gifts  differing  according  to  the 
grace  that  was  given  us,  whether  prophecy,  .  .  . 
or  ministry,  ...  or  he  that  exhorteth,  .  .  . 
he  that  giveth,  ...  he  that  ruleth,  ...  he 
that  showeth  mercy."-  The  gift  itself  constituted 
a  call  to  the  appropriate  ministration ;  it  was  be- 
stowed not  as  idle  riches,  but  for  use ;  it  was  the 
voice  of  God  saying  to  its  recipient,  "Go,  work 
thus  in  my  kingdom." 

Let  us  not  conceive  of  such  charisms,  however, 
as  purely  extraordinary  and  supernatural.     This 

^Rom.  xii.  6-10;  1  Cor.  xiv.  1.      =Rom.  xii.  6-8. 


Fimction:  Proclaiming^  Teaching      233 

would  be  equally  erroneous  with  the  opposite  ex- 
treme of  supposing  them  to  have  been  merely 
natural  talents.  By  whatever  of  miracle  they 
were  accompanied  as  signs  that,  in  the  power  of 
the  Spirit,  Christ  had  come  again,  and  was  pres- 
ent in  his  congregations,  the  substance  of  them, 
we  may  believe,  was  the  God-given  natural  capaci- 
ties, powers,  talents  of  the  soul,  quickened  and  ex- 
alted by  the  promised  Spirit  of  life.  Certainly 
the  natural  powers  of  observation  and  good  judg- 
ment were  to  be  used  in  connection  with  the  exer- 
cise of  even  the  very  highest  of  them  all :  "Let  all 
things  be  done  unto  edifying.  .  .  .  And  the 
spirits  of  the  prophets  are  subject  to  the  proph- 
ets."^ 

The  same  Holy  Spirit,  fitting  men  and  women 
for  service  by  the  communication  of  his  gracious 
gifts,  is  in  the  Church  of  to-day.  Natural  talents, 
although,  equally  with  these  charisms,  the  bestow- 
ments  of  God's  creative  love,  do  not  suffice.  Nor 
can  any  consecrating  rite,  any  baptism  or  ordina- 
tion, make  them  sufficient.  They  must  be  Divinely 
touched  unto  newness  of  life.  They  must  be  en- 
kindled from  on  high.  Then  it  will  be  as  if  with 
the  soul  itself  they  were  born  anew. 

The  natural  gift  of  speech  will  become  a  power 
to  preach  the  word  of  God  as  otherwise  neither 
scholar  nor  orator  could  ever  preach  it,  or  to  offer 
prayer  that  will  interpret  the  unspoken  aspirations 

^1  Cor.  xiv.   26,  32. 


234  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

of  all  fellow-worshipers.  The  natural  gift  of  in- 
sight will  become  a  power  of  spiritual  discernment 
which  may  be  lacking  in  the  affluent  child  of  genius 
or  the  ver_y  princes  of  knowledge  and  thought.  The 
natural  gift  of  song  will  become  a  power  to  quick- 
en the  immortal  yearnings  of  the  soul  with  a  sense 
of  the  Saviour's  love  and  the  glory  of  the  Eternal. 
The  natural  gift  of  ministration  to  the  sick  or 
the  needy  will  become  a  healing  and  uplifting 
power,  as  if  the  Divine  Healer  himself  were  pres- 
ent, as  if  the  Divine  Giver  himself  were  commu- 
nicating his  riches,  in  the  person  of  his  like- 
minded  servant.  The  natural  gift  of  government 
will  become  a  prophet's  power  of  rule  and  leader- 
ship, "as  the  light  of  the  morning  when  the  sun 
riseth,  a  morning  without  clouds." 

Is  any  child  of  God  excluded  from  this  admin- 
istration of  spiritual  gifts?  Tn  reality,  not  one. 
Tliere  are  many  who  have  none  of  them  in  an  ex- 
traordinary degree ;  but  just  as  all  persons  pos- 
sess natural  endowments — five  "talents,"  two,  one 
— so  likewise  are  the  endowments  of  all  enriclu'd 
by  the  gifts  of  grace.  It  is  only  in  a  relative  sense 
that  any  human  being  is  ungifted,  and  only  in  the 
same  sense  that  any  spiritually  renewed  soul  is 
destitute  of  the  charisms  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "If 
any  man  is  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature;  the 
old  things  are  passed  away;  behold,  they  are  be- 
come new."^ 

*1  Cor.  V.  17. 


FuTiction:  Proclaiming^  Teaching      235 

However  small  the  gift,  it  will  be  put  to  use, 
and  in  the  "more  excellent  way,"  when  thrilled 
through  with  the  spirit  of  love.  I  have  heard  a 
modest  Christian  hero  tell:  "I  said  to  myself,  I 
have  no  special  gift  to  preach;  but  I  have  feet,  I 
can  walk,  and  I  have  hands,  I  can  distribute  the 
Scriptures."  For  many  years  he  has  been  walking 
and  distributing  the  Scriptures,  as  an  honored 
agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society  in  a  far-away, 
unevangelized  land.  Yerily  his  are  feet  "shod 
with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace,"  and 
hands  in  which  is  "the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which 
is  the  word  of  God."  The  greatest  of  economists, 
as  well  as  the  greatest  of  givers,  is  the  heart  of 
love.    It  makes  everything  tell. 

II 

If  now  it  be  asked.  What  are  the  functions  of  the 
Church? — her  work,  enterprise,  collective  activities 
— the  answer  is  suggested  in  a  metaphor  that  has 
become  "a  household  word  in  all  Christian  theol- 
ogy" :  The  Church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  and  as 
sucli  it  is  the  organ  through  which  his  work  in  the 
world  is  to  be  done.^ 

Visible  on  earth,  in  his  own  flesh  and  blood,  for 
a  few  sinless  years,  the  Son  did  the  work  of  the 
Father.  Four  comprehensive  words  may  be  tak- 
en as  representing  it  all — namely,  pr'oclmnation, 

^Eph.  i.  22,  23;  Col.  i.  18,  24. 


236  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

teaching,  beneficence,  spiritual  nurture.  "And 
Jesus  went  about  in  all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their 
synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  king- 
dom, and  healing  all  manner  of  disease  and  all 
manner  of  sickness  among  the  people."  "Litth 
children,  yet  a  little  while  I  am  with  you.'"''  Such 
in  brief  was  the  personal  ministry  of  Jesus;  and 
essentially  the  same  ministry  it  is  his  declared 
will  to  continue  through  the  Church,  which  is  his 
body,  unto  the  end  of  time. 

More  prominent  in  the  Gospels  than  the  insti- 
tution of  baptism  or  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  even 
of  the  Church  itself,  is  the  institution  of  Chris- 
tian preaching.  It  was  for  this  ministry  that  the 
Twelve  were  chosen,  taught,  and  trained :  "He  ap- 
pointed twelve  that  they  might  be  with  him,  and 
that  he  might  send  them  forth  to  preach."^  Aft- 
erwards out  of  the  glory  of  the  Father  he  shed 
upon  them  the  baptism  of  fire,  whereby  those  who 
from  the  beginning  had  been  "eyewitnesses  and 
ministers  of  the  word"'  Avere  fully  empowered  as 
his  witness-bearers.  Thus  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
which  marks  the  second  coming  of  Christ  to  "his 
own,"  marks  at  the  same  time  the  complete  institu- 
tion and  endowment  of  the  ministry  of  proclama- 
tion, which  shall  be  perpetuated  throughout  tlie 
age  of  the  word  and  the  Spirit. 

Upon  others  at  that  same  time  and  later  the 

"Matt.  iv.  23:    John  xiii.  33.     'Mark  iii.  14. 


Function:  Proclaiming^  Teaching      237 

hand  of  the  ascended  Christ  was  laid  in  vocation 
and  command  to  proclaim  the  gospel — upon 
Stephen  and  Philip  and  Barnabas  and  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  and  upon  many  whose  names,  unknown 
on  earth,  are  written  in  the  book  of  life.  The  es- 
sential thing  was  that  they  should  truly  go  forth 
with  the  hand  of  the  Lord  upon  them.  "As  thou 
didst  send  me  into  the  world,  even  so  sent  I  them 
into  the  world."^  "How  shall  they  preach  except 
they  be  sent?"®  Not  waiting  to  be  sought  by  the 
people,  they  went  as  apostles. 

N^evertheless  there  is  here  a  matter  of  ecclesi- 
astical polity.  For,  as  M-e  have  seen,  it  is  the  part 
of  the  Christian  congregation  to  judge  whether  the 
men  who  rise  up  among  them,  or  would  go  out 
from  them,  as  proclaimers  of  Christ's  gospel,  are 
indeed  his  sent  ones.  Eefusing  any  would-be 
prophets,  the  Church  must  give  its  indorsement 
to  those  whom  it  accepts  as  messengers  of  God. 
And  in  some  form  or  other  it  has  always  under- 
taken to  do  so.  In  the  Evangelical  Churches  of 
the  present  day,  while  large  liberty  is  allowed  any 
reputable  Christian  who  would  speak  the  word  of 
God  in  the  congregation,  yet  some  solemn  form  of 
licensure  to  preach,  and  of  ordination  to  a  minis- 
try that  includes  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  is 
universally  observed.  It  may  be  a  particular  con- 
gregation acting  for  itself,  or  a  presbytery  of  min- 
isters and  elders,  or  a  conference  of  ministers  and 

'John  xvii.  18.      "Rom.  x.  15. 


238  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

lay  delegates,  or  a  single  Church  officer,  as  a  bish- 
op, by  whom  the  authorization  is  given;  but  in 
every  case  the  procedure  is  based,  at  least  theoreti- 
cally, on  the  principle  that  a  Church  of  Christ, 
acting  either  directly  or  through  representatives, 
receives  into  its  catholic  and  apostolic  ministry  a 
man  already  called  thereunto  by  the  voice  of  God.^" 
"I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all,"  wrote  Paul 
to  the  Corinthians,  "that  which  also  I  received, 
how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  that  he  was  buried,  and  that  he 
hath  been  raised  up  on  the  third  day  according  to 
the  Scriptures.'""  Xow  if  these  are  facts,  it  is  no 
slight  thing  whether  or  not  they  be  published. 
They  constitute  an  evangel  that  has  power  to 
make  all  things  new.  Dut}^  privilege,  relation- 
ship to  God,  outlook  into  the  future,  all  are  vitally 
affected  by  them.  Every  man  for  whom  Christ 
died  is  entitled  to  hear  the  Xame  whereby  he  must 
be  saved.  But  much  also  depends  upon  the  telling. 
The  gospel  is  to  be  known  by  experience  and  con- 
viction in  the  hearts  of  its  heralds.  Let  them 
therefore  first  be  approved  as  to  gifts,  grace,  and 
usefulness,  that  so  the  commission  written  with 

*T7ie  Bishop:  "Do  you  think  that  you  are  truly 
called,  according  to  the  will  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  according  to  the  canons  of  this  Church,  to  the 
ministry  of  the  same?" 

Ansicer:  'I  think  so."  ("Ordinal  of  the  Church  of 
England.") 

"1  Cor.  XV.  3,  4. 


Function:  Proclaiming^  Teaching      239 

ink  may  be  the  outward  sign  of  the  commission 
written  with  the  finger  of  God  upon  the  heart. 

The  Church  is  also  to  determine  the  preacher's 
field  of  labor.  In  some  instances,  he  may  believe 
it  to  be  assigned  him  by  direct  Divine  intimation. 
He  may  claim  to  understand  through  an  experi- 
ence of  his  own  such  words  as  were  written  con- 
cerning apostles  of  old :  "And  when  they  were 
come  over  against  Mysia,  they  assayed  to  go  into 
Bithynia ;  and  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  suffered  them 
not."^^  But  the  ordinary  way  of  Divine  guidance 
to  one's  place  of  work  is  through  reason,  con- 
science, and  love,  and  the  economy  of  the  Church. 
The  Christian  who  would  despise  or  underrate 
these  means  of  learning  what  the  will  of  the  Lord 
is,  will  expose  himself  to  all  the  hurtful  fancies 
of  fanaticism. 

The  ministry  of  a  Church  may  be  organized 
with  special  reference  to  proclamation,  or  evan- 
gelical aggression.  Here  again  a  noteworth}^  in- 
stance is  that  of  Methodism.  Two  features  of 
Methodist  economy  showed  at  the  beginning  a  pe- 
culiar adaptedness  to  the  service  of  proclamation — 
namely,  the  appointing  power  and  the  itineranc}'. 
And  now  that  the  Wesleyan  Society  has  become  a 
Avorld-wide  Church,  these  two  features  of  its  econo- 
my remain  essentially  unimpaired.  That  the  evan- 
gelist should  surrender  his  own  will,  as  to  where 
his  labors  shall  be  bestowed,  to  a  revered  and  eom- 

"Acts  xvi.  7. 


240  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

petent  authority,  and  having  in  the  space  of  some 
months  delivered  and  reiterated  his  message  and 
gathered  his  converts,  give  place  to  a  brother  evan- 
gelist with  a  different  gift  of  utterance,  would 
seem  to  be  the  very  ideal  of  a  ministry  of  procla- 
mation. 

It  is  not  the  Christian  pastoral  ideal.  But  this 
may  no  more  be  disregarded  than  that  of  evangel- 
ism; for  while  it  is  much  to  proclaim  the  King- 
dom, it  is  even  more  to  build  it  up,  little  by  little, 
day  by  da3\  In  view  of  this  object,  a  longer  term 
of  pastoral  service  in  Methodist  congregations  is 
demanded — and  has  been  provided  for. 

Ill 

What  the  apostles  had  learned  of  Jesus,  and 
were  having  interpreted  to  them  in  personal  ex- 
perience by  the  revealing  Spirit,  they  must  impart 
to  all  those  who  might  become  believers  on  him 
through  their  word.  It  was  a  distinct  part  of  their 
commission:  "Make  disciples  [learners,  pupils] 
of  all  the  nations.  .  .  .  Teaching  them  to  ob- 
serve all  things  whatsoever  I  commanded  you,"^^ 
Accordingly  the  work  of  the  apostles  and  their 
fellow-ministers  is  described  in  the  Acts  and  the 
Epistles  as  a  work  of  tcadiing  no  less  than  of  pro- 
claiming the  gospel.^*    Paul,  chief  of  the  apostles 

^'Matt.  xxviii.  19,  20. 

"Cf.  Acts  V.  42;  xv.  35;  Gal.  vi.  6;  Col.  i.  28;  2  Tim. 
ii.  2. 


Function:  Pr'aclaiming ^  Teaching      241 

as  a  missionary  herald,  ever  pressing  on  to  name 
the  name  of  Christ  where  it  had  not  been  heard, 
was  also  chief  teacher  of  the  "mystery  of  God, 
even  Christ,  in  whom  are  all  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  hidden. "^^  So  also  among  the 
gifts  that  found  expression  in  functions  or  offices 
in  the  apostolic  churches,  that  of  teaching  is  clear- 
ly recognized.  "God  hath  set  some  in  the  Church, 
.  .  .  teachers.  .  .  .  Are  all  teachers  ?'"^°  "And 
gave  some  to  be  .  .  .  pastors  and  teachers."^^ 
"ISTow  there  were  at  Antioch,  in  the  church  that 
was  there,  prophets  and  teachers. "^^  The  presby- 
ter-bishop must  be  "apt  to  teach,"^^ 

The  purpose  of  Christianity  is  to  Christianize, 
which  means  to  evangelize  and  much  more.  It 
means  that  the  light  of  the  revelation  in  the  Scrip- 
tures is  to  be  brought  to  bear  upon  each  man's 
daily  conduct — at  home,  in  business,  in  amuse- 
ments, in  politics,  everywhere — and  upon  the  in- 
nermost thoughts  and  motives  of  the  heart.  More 
and  more  the  breadth  of  that  commandment  which 
is  exceeding  broad  is  to  be  learned ;  more  and  more 
the  infinite  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  in 
C!hrist  are  to  be  sought  out.  Hence  the  teaching 
together  with  the  proclaiming  function  of  the 
pulpit. 

'=>Col.  ii.  2,  3.  '«1  Cor.  xii.  28,  29. 

"Eph.  iv.  11.  "Acts  xiii.  1. 

"1   Tim.    iii.    2.      Cf.    Acts   xviii.    1-11;    xix.    1-10; 
xxviii.  30,  31. 
IG 


242  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Theoretically  distinct,  the  two  functions  are  not 
sharpl}^  separated  in  practice.  Both  are  likely  to 
be  found,  intermingled,  in  the  same  sermon.  The 
humblest  Salvationist,  Avho  tells  the  true  story  of 
forgiveness  in  Christ,  is  a  Christian  teacher,  while 
the  most  scholarly  pastor  who  truly  knows  his 
calling,  will  be  heard,  after  even  a  half  century 
of  ministering  in  a  single  congregation,  both 
preaching  and  teaching  Jesus  Christ,  Evangelic 
preaching  (Krjpvyixa)  is  teaching  begun,  and  evan- 
gelic teaching  (StSao-KaXia)  is  preaching  complet- 
ed.2o 

Indeed,  not  only  in  preaching  but  even  in  con- 
gregational Avorship  there  is  a  pervasive  didactic 
element.  ''Teaching  and  admonishing  on  another 
with  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs."^^ 
And  as  to  congregational  prayer — is  not  such  filial 
converse  of  an  illuminated  soul  Math  God  the  Fa- 
ther, in  Jesus'  name,  instructive  as  well  as  inspir- 
ing to  like-minded  listeners?  How  much  truth 
may  be  learned   from  the  prayers  of  the  Bible ! 

^It  is  suggestive  to  note  that  in  the  Didache  apos- 
tles are  called  prophets,  and  prophets  are  said  to 
teach.  (XL,  5,  6,  10.)  Suggestive  but  not  surpris- 
ing; for  in  the  New  Testament  it  is  written  that  out 
of  the  number  of  "prophets  and  teachers'"  in  An- 
tioch,  two,  Paul  and  Barnabas,  were  selected  to  go 
upon  a  missionary  journey  as  "apostles,"  and  that 
the  evangelist  Timothy  is  bidden  not  only  to  exhort 
but  to  "teach."     (2  Tim.  iv.  5;   1  Tim.  vi.  2.) 

^'Col.  iii.  16. 


Function:  Proclaiming^  Teaching      243 

Inexhaustible  is  the  teaching  of  the  Prayer  which 
Jesus  taught  his  disciples  to  offer. 

But  in  the  economy  of  the  Church,  both  under 
the  Old  and  the  Xew  Covenant,  may  be  seen  a 
more  specific  provision  than  either  the  devotional 
meeting  or  the  pulpit  for  the  teaching  office.  In 
Israel  not  only  were  parental  instruction  and  the 
public  reading  of  the  Law  enjoined,  but  in  post- 
exilic  times,  the  synagogue,  Avhose  main  purpose 
Avas  the  indoctrination  of  the  people  in  the  truths 
of  religion,  made  its  appearance.  It  was  called 
"the  house  of  instruction,"  as  the  temple  was 
called  "the  house  of  prayer."  The  Law  and  later 
the  Prophets  were  expounded  by  those  whom  the 
president  might  recognize  at  any  meeting;  and 
the  true  didactic  method  of  question  and  answer 
might  be  followed.--  On  both  the  forenoon  and 
the  afternoon  of  the  Sahbath,  and  on  the  second 
and  fifth  days  of  tiie  week,  the  congregation  was 
invited  to  meet  for  this  service. 

Besides,   there  were   schools   for   both   children 

""The  main  object  of  these  Sabbath-day  assemblies 
in  the  synagogue  was  not  worship  in  the  stricter 
sense — i.  e.,  not  devotion,  but  religious  instruction, 
and  this  for  an  Israelite  was,  above  all,  instruction 
in  the  Law.  ...  In  the  time  of  Christ  the  'teach- 
ing in  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day'  was  already 
an  established  and  naturalized  institution."  (Schii- 
rer,  "The  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Christ,"  Div. 
II.,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  53-55.) 


244  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

and  adults.  These  were  in  full  operation  in  tlie 
time  of  our  Lord.-^  The  scliools  for  children  and 
youth,  from  five  years  old  upward,  were  usually 
taught  by  the  "attendant"^*  of  the  synagogue,  and 
were  sometimes  held  in  the  synagogue  itself  and 
sometimes  elsewhere.  The  schools  for  adults  were 
taught  (often  grievously  mistaught)  by  the  scribes, 
or  rabbis.  And  nothing  could  exceed  the  reverence 
in  which  the  teaching  office  was  held  in  this  period 
of  Judaism. 

In  the  Christian  Church  of  the  early  centuries 
the  teaching  was  represented  by  two  notable  insti- 
tutions— namely,  the  catechumenate  and  the  cate- 
chetical schools.  The  instruction  given  the  cate- 
chumens extended  through  a  period  of  two  years 
or  longer.  The  teachers  were  either  officers — per- 
haps a  bishop — or  laymen  or  women  (deaconess- 
es), and  were  expected  to  be  blameless  in  life  and 
skillful  in  imparting  knowledge.^^  The  course, 
at  least  in  some  instances,  embraced  all  the  ordi- 
nary topics  of  Christian  theology. 

='Cf.  Schiirer,  lUd.,  pp.  48,  50;  Stapfer,  "Palestine 
in  the  Time  of  Christ,"  Bk.  II.,  c.  III.,  p.  302. 

=*Luke  iv.  20. 

-'"Let  the  catechist  instruct,  being  first  instructed; 
for  it  is  a  work  relating  to  the  souls  of  men.  For  the 
teacher  of  the  Word  must  accommodate  himself  to 
the  various  judgments  of  the  learners.  The  catechist 
must  therefore  be  learned,  and  unblameable,  of  much 
experience,  and  approved."  (Clementines,  "Epistle  of 
Clement  to  James,"  13.) 


Function:  Proclaiming^  Teaching      245 

More  advanced  instruction,  with  discussions  of 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity  as  opposed  to  pa- 
ganism, was  given  in  the  catechetical,  or  theolog- 
ical, schools,  such  as  were  organized  in  Alexan- 
dria, Cesarea,  Carthage,  and  probahly  in  some 
other  places.  Into  these  schools — taking  that  of 
Alexandria,  the  most  celebrated,  as  an  example — 
any  seeker  of  truth  was  admitted  as  a  student,  no 
charge  being  made  for  tuition.  The  method  of  in- 
struction was  that  of  continuous  discourse,  com- 
bined with  that  of  question  and  answer.  Deep 
and  far-reaching  was  the  influence  of  these  first 
great  theological  seminaries  upon  the  Christian 
thought  and  life  of  the  age.^" 

With  Protestantism  came  a  revival  of  catechet- 
ies.  In  the  Lutheran,  the  Eeformed,  the  Angli- 
can, and  the  English  Presbyterian  communions, 
catechisms  were  authoritatively  adopted  and  en- 
joined as  a  means  of  instruction  for  the  young. 
In  the  churches  generally,  to  give  such  instruc- 
tion, either  personally  or  through  appointed  help- 
ers, has  been  made  a  part  of  the  pastors  official 
duty. 

Indeed,  if  the  first  years  of  life  are  its  plastic 
and  determinative  years,  the  church  must  be 
grievously  defective  in  conscience  and  intelligence 
that  does  not  somehow  provide  for  the  preoccupa- 
tion   of   the    mind    of    the    child    with    Christian 

^Smith  and  Cheatham's  "Dictionary  of  Christian 
Antiquities,"  Art.  Schools, 


246  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

truth.  There  is  no  other  equall}^  fruitful  work: 
there  is  none  whose  neglect  is  more  conducive  to 
spiritiial  waste  and  disaster. 

But  the  teaching  institute  that  has  been  more 
widely  extended  than  any  other  in  the  modern 
Church  is  the  Sunday  school.  Originating  with 
paid  teachers,  it  rapidly  enlarged  its  scope,  and  is 
now  beginning  to  become  in  the  fullest  sense  the 
Bible  school  of  the  Church.  Its  most  promising 
field  will  ever  be,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  the 
children  and  youth;  but  the  eldest  as  well  as  the 
youngest  of  the  whole  community  are  embraced 
within  its  aim.  There  is  even  a  "cradle  roll'  and 
a  "home  department." 

The  idea  of  the  Sunday  school  as  now  con- 
ceived is  that  of  the  Church  itself,  with  the  open 
Bible  in  its  hands,  assembled  to  learn  and  to  teach 
the  will  of  God  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ :  its  lead- 
er the  pastor,  iis  officers  and  teachers  laymen  and 
women.  The  method  of  instruction — that  of 
question  and  answer — was  the  blaster's  own  meth- 
od in  his  ministry  of  teaching,  and  indeed  has 
been  used  by  the  teacher  in  all  ages  and  with  all 
classes  of  learners.  Xor  is  there  any  more  fitting 
method  of  personal  evangelistic  work. 

But  the  catechetical  class  and  the  Sunday  school 
must  needs  observe  certain  close  limitations.  They 
cannot  go  beyond  the  giving  of  strictly  religious 
instruction,  and  this  for  the  mo,-t  part  of  an  ele- 


Punction:  Proclaiming^  Teaching      247* 

mentary  character.  Besides,  the  regular  oppor- 
tunity of  the  teacher  with  the  pupil — one  or  two 
liours,  or  only  a  single  half  hour  a  week — is  small 
indeed.  The  educational  work  of  the  Church,  in 
the  more  technical  sense  of  the  word,  has  been 
organized  in  the  form  of  church  schools.  These 
may  be  parochial  schools  (as,  for  instance,  among 
the  evangelical  churches,  in  many  Lutheran  con- 
gregations of  both  P]urope  and  America)  for  the 
younger  children ;  but  in  the  more  familiar  in- 
stances of  our  own  country  they  are  secondary 
schools,  colleges,  theological  seminaries,  and  uni- 
versities. 

Significant  is  the  fact  that  on  an  ancient  seal 
of  the  first  college  founded  in  America  was  the 
motto,  "Fro  Christo  et  ecclesice" ;  that  for  the  first 
two  centuries  of  America's  educational  history  al- 
most all  her  colleges  were  distinctly  Christian  and 
denominational  institutions;  that  such  a  society 
as  the  Friends,  who  began  with  so  slight  an  appre- 
ciation of  human  learning,  has  produced  not  a 
few  of  the  best  schools  and  teachers  in  the  land; 
and  that  the  church  that  has  been  most  distin- 
guished in  American  Christianity  for  organized 
evangelism  among  the  poor  and  the  uneducated, 
numbers  more  educational  institutions  under  its 
patronage  and  control  than  does  any  of  its  sister 
churches. 

What,  then,  is  the  idea  of  the  church  school? 
Properly  understood,  it  is  the  highest  and  most 


248  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

comprehensive  of  all  educational  conceptions. 
Man  is  essentially  spiritual.  The  ideal  of  spirit- 
uality has  become  actual  in  Jesus  the  Son  of  God, 
Education  is  the  development  not  of  this  or  that 
power — as,  for  example,  the  muscles  or  the  rea- 
soning faculty — but  of  the  whole  man  in  the  unity 
of  his  nature.  It  is  calling  forth  the  latent  pow- 
ers of  body,  intellect,  spirit,  and  of  the  spirit 
recognized  as  supreme.  In  its  perfection,  there- 
fore, it  is  no  other  than  a  Christian  process.  "Unto 
a  full  grown  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  the  fullness  of  Christ." 

There  is  also  a  teaching  agency  to  the  use  of 
which  the  Church  has  been  committed  from  the 
beginning  by  one  of  the  forms  in  which  the  truth 
of  which  she  has  been  made  the  custodian  was 
chiefly  embodied.  That  revealed  truth  was  writ- 
ten down.  Not  wholly  trusted  to  the  living  voice, 
to  memorial  institutions,  to  symbolic  rites,  it  was 
recorded  in  l)Ooks.  To  the  last  of  the  great 
prophets  of  the  New  Covenant,  as  to  the  first  of 
the  Old,  was  given  the  command.  The  things 
which  thou  hast  seen  and  heard  write."-'  "These 
are  written  that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  that  believing  ye  may 
have  life  in  his  name.'"'"^  From  the  days  of  Sinai 
the  Church  has  taught  through  letters,  even 
through  the  Scriptures  which  by  the  inspiration 

-■Ex.  xxxiv.  27;  Rev.  i.  11.      =*John  xx.  31. 


Function:  Proclahning,  TeacMng      249 

of  the  Holy  Spirit  came  from  her  hands.    Imagine 
them  unwritten. 

Beyond  all  estimate  and  all  imagining  is  the 
power  of  the  press.  Easily  multiplying  the  writ- 
er's manuscripts  into  hundreds  of  thousands,  it 
gathers  about  him  an  innumerable  company  of 
readers  the  world  over.  Every  enlightened  land 
is  thick  sown  with  literature.  The  Christian 
Church,  therefore,  could  not  have  done  otherwise 
than  organize  the  leaflet,  the  pamphlet,  the  period- 
ical, the  tract,  the  book,  as  teaching  forces  in  her 
service.  Increasingly  prominent  among  her  in- 
stitutions is  the  publishing  house. 

Undoubtedly  the  spoken  word,  freighted  with 
the  wealth  of  voice  and  living  presence,  enters  the 
soul  with  an  intimate  power  that  is  all  its  own. 
It  cannot  be  substituted.  Though  the  printing 
press  should  make  every  man  on  earth  a  reader. 
the  Master's  command,  "Go,  preach,"  would  not 
be  thereby  rendered  obsolete.  But  the  printed 
word  can  go  where  the  speaker  is  unable  to  make 
his  way;  and  it  may  abide  in  power,  reproducing 
itself  even  in  form  unto  the  end  of  time.  Where 
the  living  voice  of  the  pulpit  or  the  school  cannot 
be  heard,  the  Church  speaks,  as  a  teacher,  through 
her  literature,  perpetually. 

IV 

Having  diligently  evangelized  and  wisely  taught, 
the  Church  has  by  no  means  completed  her  direct 


250  The  Idea  of  the  Chiircli 

service  to  the  soul.  There  is  another  ecclesiastical 
function,  less  easily  defined,  but  none  the  less  real. 
T.et  us  call  it  spiritual  nurture. 

Jesus  preached  and  taught ;  yet  how  far  are 
these  two  words  from  expressing  his  whole  minis- 
tration to  the  inner  life  of  those  who  were  about 
him.  What  he  did  for  them  does  not  measure 
what  he  was  to  them.  He  was  his  own  greatest 
gift.  His  presence  among  men  quickened,  cher- 
ished, strengthened,  nurtured  the  life  of  God  in 
their  souls.  He  was  the  good  Shepherd,  who  knew 
his  flock  and  was  known  of  them ;  the  Master,  M'ho 
chose  followers  not  simply  that  they  might  come 
after  him  but  "that  they  might  be  with  him";  the 
Friend,  who,  having  loved  his  own  who  were  in  the 
world,  loved  them  unto  the  end ;  the  Bread  of  life, 
that  men  might  live  by  him.  What  was  it  that 
brought  Zaccheus  and  the  "woman  that  was  a  sin- 
ner" and  others  to  his  feet,  and  lifted  them  up  in 
the  new  joy  of  an  immortal  hope?  What  was  it 
that  won  the  reverence  and  devotion  of  his  disci- 
ples, and  wrought  as  a  transforming  life-force  in 
their  spiritual  nature?  It  was  Himself.  Him- 
self the  Way,  himself  the  Truth,  himself  the  Life. 

As  Christ  was,  so  is  his  Church  to  be  in  this 
world,  a  quickener  and  cherisher  of  souls.  It  was 
said  of  Henry  Clay  Trumbull :  "It  was  both  our 
humiliation  and  our  glory  that  he  was  ever  find- 
ing in  us  nobleness  which  we  did  not  know  was 
possible  for  us,  until  he  loved  it  into  being."    To 


Function:  Proclairriing^  Teaching       251 

love  the  possible  good  in  men  into  actual  exist- 
ence, and  then  into  growth  and  greatness,  such 
a  function  of  the  individual  Christian  is  with 
multiplied  power  a  function  of  the  congregation 
of  Jesus  Christ.    It  is  being  Christlike  to  men. 

Atmosphere  is  not  all,  but  it  is  very  much,  to 
the  growing  plant.  It  may  either  chill  and  shrivel 
and  poison,  or  it  may  nourish  into  strength  and 
fruitfulness.  Every  man  has  his  own  moral  atmos- 
phere, by  himself  created,  which  no  one  can  enter 
into  his  presence  without  becoming  sensible  of. 
So  has  every  home.  So  has  every  C*hristian  con- 
gregation, which  is  a  home  for  the  soul. 

What  is  this  church  atmosphere?  Wisdom, 
fair  dealing,  manliness,  womanliness,  thoughtful- 
ness,  brotherliness,  patience  and  peace,  faith,  joy, 
love — in  a  word,  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  Where  such 
a  spirit  prevails  it  will  indeed  be  shown  that  "those 
that  be  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  shall 
flourish  in  the  courts  of  our  God."  Toward  such 
a  congregation  all  that  are  touched  by  its  influ- 
ence will  be  insensibly  dra•^vn•,  and  in  it  the  un- 
tried soul  will  feel  the  protective  power  of  inter- 
mingled moral  earnestness  and  human  sympathy, 
and  will  catch  the  contagion  of  zeal  for  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Lord.  "Now  we  that  are  strong  ought 
to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  not  to 
please  ourselves.  .  .  .  Wherefore  receive  ye 
one  another,  even  as  Christ  also  received  you.''-'* 

=»Rom.  XV.  1,  7. 


252  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

The  word  (Trpoo-Xa/x^avco-^at)  represents  the  hand- 
grasp  of  hospitality  and  brotherhood.  It  means 
take  into  your  heart  and  home. 

It  is  incnmbent  on  the  Church  to  mother  her 
cliildren.  Alas,  for  the  mother  who  gets  no  nearer 
the  heart  of  the  child  than  she  is  able  to  come 
through  words  of  knowledge  or  wisdom  or  com- 
mand on  her  lips !  It  is  in  the  brooding  care,  the 
sheltering  presence,  the  warmth  of  self-giving  af- 
fection, that  the  child,  under  the  divine  law  of 
motherhood,  is  to  begin  the  development  of  its 
own  affectional  and  higher  life.  Said  the  man 
who,  with  his  ministerial  colaborers,  represented, 
as  did  none  of  his  contemporaries,  the  universal 
Church:  "But  we  were  gentle  in  the  midst  of  you, 
as  when  a  nurse  cherisheth  her  own  children : 
even  so,  being  affectionately  desirous  of  you.  we 
were  well  pleased  to  impart  unto  you,  not  the  gos- 
pel of  God  only,  but  also  our  own  souls,  because 
ye  were  become  very  dear  to  us.""'*'  Christian  nur- 
ture is  the  giving  of  a  life  to  the  other  lives  that 
need  it  most. 

Are  there  any  who  need  it  more  than  the  young 
people?  There  are  none  who  respond  so  generally 
to  its  influence.  There  are  none  whose  claim  is  so 
touching  and  insistent.  Blessed  is  that  church 
which  offers  to  its  most  impressionable  and  prom- 
iseful  children  a  home  in  which  their  social  na- 
ture will  receive  a  genial  appreciation  and  cul- 

"1  Thess.  li.  7,  8. 


Function:  Proclaiming^  Teaching      253 

ture,  while  their  faults  arc  shamed  away  by  the 
presence  of  a  noble  Christian  manhood  and  wom- 
anhood, and  the  beginnings  of  spiritual  character 
are  nourished  by  an  encompassing  personal  life  of 
Christly  human  love.  Are  they  to  be  trained  as  a 
class  of  disciples,  a  league  of  workers,  an  army  of 
obedient  soldiers,  in  the  Master's  service?  Xo- 
where  can  it  be  so  well  done  as  in  a  genuine  church 
home. 


Ill 

FUNCTION :  BENEFICENCE 

Has  the  Church  an}^  office  to  ijerform  outside 
the  distinctly  spiritual  life?  In  making  answer 
to  such  a  question,  let  it  be  remembered  that  tlio 
human  nature  of  which  we  are  all  so  keenly  con- 
scious is  not  a  simple  unitary  thing.  It  is  made 
up  of  strange  and  powerful  opposites — body  and 
soul,  heart  and  intellect,  selfhood  and  sociality. 
It  is  these  in  synthesis  tliat  make  the  man.  And 
just  how  broad  a  relation  the  Church  is  designed 
io  sustain  toward  this  marvelous  embodiment  of 
dust  and  spirit  is  what  we  should  like  to  know. 
Does  physical,  intellectual,  or  social  betterment 
properly  fall  MMthin  the  sphere  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of  Jesus  Chrisl  ?  Including  these  forms  of 
service  under  Ihe  name  of  beneficence,  let  us  see 
if  here  also  is  to  be  found  an  ecclesiastical  func- 
tion. 

That  the  Church  is  indirectly  such  a  health- 
giver,  no  one  will  deny.  The  "saving  health" 
which  she  ministers  to  the  spirit  will  extend,  in  its 
beneficent  effects,  to  the  whole  man.  It  will  per- 
vade all  his  physical  and  social  relations.  To  make 
a  man  a  son  of  God  is  to  give  him  dominion  over 
the  earth.  It  is  to  make  him,  wherever  outward 
circumstances  permit,  sound  in  body,  happy  in  his 
(254) 


Function:  Beneficence  255 

family,  a  producer  of  wealth,  a  helpful  neighbor, 
an  upright  citizen.  One  cannot  imagine  a  com- 
munity where  the  Church  had  met  with  complete 
i^uccess  as  an  evangelist,  a  teacher,  and  a  spiritual 
mother,  though  she  had  done  absolutely  nothing 
else,  that  Avas  other  than  a  prosperous  community 
in  its  whole  physical  and  social  life.  The  lower 
good  may  be  enjoyed  (though  not  in  its  finest 
quality)  without  tliat  which  is  highest:  neverthe- 
less it  is  the  absence  of  the  highest  that  best  ex- 
plains the  absence  of  the  lower.  Does  the  natural 
in  this  world  constitute  the  basis  of  the  spiritual  ? 
The  spiritual,  in  its  turn,  is  lord  of  the  natural,  to 
command  its  ideal  use  and  perfection. 

But  the  question  is,  whether  there  has  been  com- 
mitted to  the  Church  by  its  Founder  a  direct  min- 
istry to  men's  bodily,  intellectual,  and  social  na- 
ture ;  and  if  so,  what  are  the  aims  of  this  ministry  ? 

I 

It  is  unquestionable  that  in  the  Church  State 
of  Israel  care  was  taken  of  both  the  people's  spir- 
itual and  bodily  life.  There  were  regulations  for 
cleanliness  and  for  protection  against  physical  in- 
jury,^ A  prescribed  portion  of  the  harvest  and 
the  vintage — the  gleanings,  the  produce  of  the 
corners  of  the  fields,  the  fallen  grapes — must  be 
left  for  gathering  by  the  poor.^     And  with  them 

^Deut.  y.rVn.  12-li;  xxii.  8,      =Lev.  xix.  9,  10. 


256  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

must  share  the  stranger  in  the  land :  "The  stran- 
ger that  sojourneth  with  you  shall  be  as  the  home- 
born  among  you,  and  thou  shalt  love  him  as  thy- 
self, for  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt."^' 
The  servant's  wages  must  be  promptly  paid  when 
the  day's  work  was  done.*  The  social  element  in 
religion  was  made  prominent ;  the  multitude  went 
to  the  house  of  God  and  kept  holy  day  together; 
the  great  religious  occasions  were  festivals.  On 
the  seventh  day  all  labor  must  be  intermitted: 
"That  thy  manservant  and  thy  maidservant  may 
rest  as  well  as  thou.''^  In  the  seventh  year  all  debts 
were  remitted.''  In  the  fiftieth  year  all  land  that 
had  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  its  original  owners 
reverted  to  him  or  to  his  family — so  that  land 
titles  were  inalienable.'^  There  was  no  aristocracy : 
the  government  was  a  theocratic  democracy.  All 
were  of  one  blood  and  lineage,  all  alike  children  of 
Abraham,  and  on  that  account  of  the  same  social 
standing.  They  must  lend  money  to  a  brother  in 
need,  and  charge  no  interest.^  In  a  word,  the 
Church  State's  ministration  was  to  soul  and  body, 
to  man  as  man.  And  the  basis  of  ibis  whole  econ- 
omy was  the  nation's  common  relation  to  Him 
who  had  called  them  to  be  his  people :  "1  am  Je- 
hovah thy  God."» 

'Lev.  xix.  34.        ^Lev.  xix.  34.        'Deut.  v.  14. 

«Deut.  XV.  1-3.      'Lev.  xxv.  13-34. 

«Deut.  XV.  7,  8;   xxiii.  19. 

•Is  it  not  a  significant  fact  that  the  very  beginning 


Function:  Beneficence  257 

The  early  conditions  of  life  in  the  Land  of 
Promise  were  extremely  simple.  To  each  man  had 
been  allotted  his  little  farm  of  a  few  acres.  The 
city  had  not  yet  been  developed.  There  were 
some  poor  people  but  no  "problem"  of  poverty — 
no  industrial  conditions  adapted  to  create  such  a 
problem.  The  extremes  of  glittering  wealth  and 
abject  indigence  were  nowhere  conspicuous.  But 
in  the  eighth  century  before  Christ,  under  the 
reigns  of  Uzziah  in  Judah  and  Jeroboam  II.  in 
the  Northern  Kingdom,  both  countries  enjoyed  a 
long  period  of  prosperity,  which,  as  in  so  many 
subsequent  cases,  found  its  way  largely  into  the 
lives  of  the  few.  There  was  now  a  city  life,  with 
the  rich  in  their  houses  of  ivory,  and  the  poor  man 
on  his  ash  heap.  Avarice  and  self-indulgence 
wrought  their  characteristic  cruelty  toward  the 
weak  and  dispossessed  classes. 

False  prophets  in  Israel  kept  silence  about  it 
all — as  in  not  a  few  Christian  pulpits  of  to-day. 

of  the  Church  Stale  of  Israel  was  in  a  divine  deliver- 
ance from  an  industrial  oppression? — "The  Hebrew 
Church,  in  so  far  as  it  came  to  have  a  definite  place 
of  worship  and  a  system  of  ordinances,  began  with 
the  deliverance  of  the  children  of  Israel  from  the 
slavery  of  Egypt.  ...  'I  have  seen  the  affliction 
of  my  people  which  are  in  Egypt,  and  I  have  heard 
their  cry  by  reason  of  their  taskmasters;  for  I  know 
their  sorrows.  And  I  am  come  down  to  deliver 
them.' "  (Brown,  "The  Social  Message  of  the  Mod- 
ern Pulpit,"  pp.  5,  6.) 
17 


258  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

Their  living  was  involved :  they  prophesied  for 
hire,  and  must  not  offend  their  masters.  But  it 
was  also  an  age  of  the  true  and  great  prophets  of 
Jehovah ;  and  these  were  friends  to  the  poor. 
Without  fear,  faithful  to  the  commission  he  had 
received  in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High,  the 
prophet  declared  the  just  judgments  of  God 
against  the  industrial  oppressor.  Isaiah  pro- 
nounced a  woe  upon  the  grasping  landlords  who 
joined  house  to  house  and  field  to  field  till  there 
was  no  room  for  anyl)ody  else,  and  they  should  be 
made  to  "dwell  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  land."^" 
Micah  described  those  who,  "because  it  is  in  the 
power  of  their  hand,"  "covet  fields  and  seize  them, 
and  houses  and  take  them  away,"  as  plucking  the 
very  flesh  from  the  Ijoncs  of  Jehovah's  people,  and 
eating  their  flesh."  Cannibals  of  civilization,  they 
fattened  off  the  lives  of  their  brethren — as  it  is 
done  now,  by  very  many,  in  our  modern  and  West- 
ern land  of  promise.  Rut  they  should  meet  with 
utter  overthrow  at  the  liands  of  Jehovah's  scourge, 
the  threatening  and  merciless  Assyrians.  And  as  to 
the  false  prophets,  who  laid  aside  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  and  cried,  Peace — "Therefore  it  shall  be 
night  unto  you,  that  ye  shall  have  no  vision;  and 
it  shall  be  dark  unto  yon,  tliat  ye  shall  not  di- 
vine."^- 

Eich  and  poor,  oppressor  and  oppressed,  were 

'"Isa.  v.  S.  ''Micah  ii.  1,  2;  iii.  2,  3. 

'^Micah  iii.  6. 


Function:  Beneficence  259 

all  alike  members  of  the  Church  in  that  day;  but 
of  that  inner  church  of  which  Jehovah's  prophets 
Avere  representatives  and  ministers,  no  one  could 
ever  have  ventured  to  say,  It  flatters  the  rich  and 
cares  nothing  for  the  cause  of  the  poor. 

II 

How  was  it  to  be,  according  to  the  voice  of  the 
prophets,  under  the  rule  of  Messiah,  when  he 
should  come?  Even  ideal  prosperity,  physical  and 
social,  would  then  be  realized.  The  very  desert 
would  send  forth  streams  of  living  water  and  blos- 
som into  beauty.  Jerusalem  would  be  called  the 
City  of  Truth,  and  death  should  hardly  be  known 
in  it;  for  the  very  old  should  be  there,  men  and 
women,  and  the  streets  of  the  city  should  "be  full 
of  boys  and  girls  playing  in  the  streets  thereof."^" 
But  how  did  it  prove  to  be  at  the  beginning  of  the 
actual  rule  and  administration  of  Messiah,  when 
lie  appeared  as  the  Man  of  Sorrows  and  sovereign 
of  a  kingdom  that  comes  not  with  observation? 
Almost  wholly  different  from  what  had  been  ex- 
pected. 

True,  a  new  era  was  inaugurated;  but  it  was 
an  era  of  the  spirit,  not  of  outward  peace  and 
wealth,  nor  of  national  glory.  The  horizons  of  the 
soul  were  lifted  and  the  eternal  opened  to  view. 
•So  the  words  of  the  King  were  spoken  continually 
of  the  things  of  the  spirit;  the  flesh  was  nothing, 

"Zech.  viii.  5. 


260  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

the  spirit  all.  lie  himself  who  came  down  from 
heaven  was  the  bread  that  he  should  give:  "Work 
not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but  for  the  meat 
which  abideth  unto  eternal  life,  which  the  Son  of 
Man  shall  give  unto  you."^^ 

Therefore,  says  the  ascetic,  let  us  rise  above  the 
Old  Testament  idea  of  a  rich  natural  life  as  the 
gift  of  God,  and  distress  the  body  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  soul.  But  this  would  be  a  wholly  un- 
warranted inference  from  Messiah's  teaching.  It 
was  his  aim  to  reveal  to  men  their  life  in  its  reality 
and  in  its  wholeness,  and  hence  to  show  the  rela- 
tive worth  of  the  material  and  the  spiritual,  the 
earthly  and  the  heavenly.  Compared  with  the 
spiritual,  to  be  sure,  the  flesh  is  nothing,  just  as 
compared  with  the  dateless  years  of  eternity  four- 
score years  of  time  sink  into  utter  insignificance. 
Nevertheless  a  single  nerve  fiber  of  the  body,  or  a 
single  moment  of  time,  is  a  real  thing;  and  not 
only  real,  though  so  small  in  itself,  but  also  vi- 
tally related  to  a  life  whose  value  is  ultimate  and 
infinite.  So  the  Lord  and  Saviour  of  the  spirit 
was  also  Lord  and  Saviour  of  the  body.  "And 
Jesus  Avent  about  in  all  Galilee,  .  .  .  Umling 
all  manner  of  disease  and  all  manner  of  sickness 
among  the  people."*^  He  added  joy  to  the  wed- 
ding feast,  and  turned  the  grief  of  the  bereaved 
household  into  gladness. ^^    He  would  have  all  that 

"John  vi.  27.      '"Matt.  iv.  23. 

'"John  ii.  1-11;  Luke  vii.  11-16;  John  xi.  1-44. 


Function:  Beneficence  261 

learned  of  him  to  help  bear  the  burden  of  the  poor 
and  disadvantaged :  "When  thou  makest  a  feast, 
bid  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the  lame,  the  blind."^' 
When  the  imprisoned  forerunner  would  know,  "Art 
thou  he  that  eometh,  or  look  we  for  another  ?"  Je- 
sus enumerated  as  signs  of  the  Messiahship,  "The 
blind  receive  their  sight,  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers 
are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  arc 
raised  up,  the  poor  have  good  tidings  preached 
unto  them,"^* 

Why  this  wonderful  Messianic  ministry  to  men's 
bodies?  Because  it  communicated  a  life  which 
was  good  in  itself;  but  miich  more  because  it  won 
an  entrance  for  that  gospel  of  salvation  which  is 
life  indeed. 

The  same  things  may  be  affirmed  of  the  social 
life  and  teachings  of  Jesus.  He  honored  the  fam- 
ily, the  State,  the  circle  of  friendship.  When  he 
would  bring  salvation  to  the  household  of  Zac- 
cheus,  he  entered  his  home  as  a  guest,  and  took  a 
meal  with  him,  self-invited,  because  he  know  that 
Zaccheus  would  think  it  presumptuous  to  invite 
him :  "Zaccheus,  make  haste  and  come  down,  for 
to-day  I  must  abide  at  thy  house. '*^''  He  walked 
and  talked  with  men,  was  accessible  to  them  at  all 
times,  lived  among  them;  and  ho  bade  them,  un- 
der sanctions  the  most  fearful  and  the  most  glo- 
Tious,  to  be  kind  to  the  poor,  to  take  heed  that  they 
despised   not  little   children,   and   in  the  fullest 

"Luke  xiv.  3  3.        "Luke  vii.  22.        '"Luke  xix.  5. 


262  Tlce  Idea  of  the  CJmrch 

sense  of  the  words  to  live  as  neighbors  one  to  an- 
other. The  manner  of  his  teaching  itself  was 
notably  social,  face  to  face,  question  and  answer, 
talk  at  the  table,  a  gronp  of  all  sorts  of  people 
freely  gathered  together  and  the  Master  in  the 
midst. 

Ill 

When,  therefore.  Christian  congregations  began 
to  be  gathered  in  the  apostolic  age,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising to  find  them  taking,  in  part,  the  form  of 
social  and  beneficent  institutions.  The  early 
eharism  of  "healing"  symbolized  a  permanent  con- 
gregational power  of  service  to  bodily  needs.  It 
was  not  unfitting,  then,  that  among  the  first  notes 
of  organized  Christianity  should  be  the  gathering 
of  a  fund,  through  voluntary  contributions,  for  the 
common  benefit — "all  things  common"  ;^"  that  the 
first  elected  officers  in  the  Church  were  ministers 
of  "tables"  ;-^  that  prominent  among  the  qualifi- 
cations of  the  pastor  must  be  hospitality;"-  that 
James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  should  write  down 
with  a  pen  of  fire  the  miseries  that  shall  come  upon 
the  rich  man  who  keeps  back  by  fraud  the  hire  of 
the  laborers  that  have  reaped  his  fields,  and  should 
teach  that  the  only  religious  worship  {dprfTKua) 
which  can  avail  anything  is  that  which  will  prompt 
its  possessor  to  minister  to  "the  fatherless  and 

^Acts  ii.  44,  45;  iv.  32.       ='Acts  vi.  1-6. 
"1  Tim.  iii.  2. 


Function:  Beneficence  ^63 

widows  in  their  affliction."-^  The  touch  of  the 
Church,  like  that  of  the  Master,  must  be  health- 
giving  to  soul  and  bod3^ 

One  by  one  the  apostles,  who  had  seen  the  Lord 
and  gone  forth  to  deliver  his  message  "as  having 
nothing,  yet  possessing  all  things,"  finished  their 
labors  and  fell  asleep.  Ere  long  the  churches  un- 
derwent divers  changes  in  rites  and  polity.  But 
in  one  respect  at  least  their  apostolic  character 
was  long  maintained  and  developed — they  prac- 
ticed'the  ministration  of  beneficence. 

It  was  an  organized  ministration.  The  offer- 
ings of  the  people  were  brought  to  the  Lord's  ta- 
ble; and  an  important  part  of  the  bishop's  office 
was  to  take  charge  of  them,  and  through  the 
hands  of  deacons  distribute  them  to  the  poor, 
"We,"  says  Justin  ]\Iartyr,  "who  valued  above  all 
things  the  acquisition  of  wealth  and  possessions, 
now  bring  what  we  have  into  a  common  stock,  and 
communicate  to  every  one  in  need."-*  The  office  of 
deaconess  was  established,  specifically  for  benefi- 
cent ministration  to  women.  The  orphan  was 
cared  for  in  the  private  house,  the  bishop's  house, 
or  the  asylum,  and  taught  some  suitable  trade, 
that  he  might  no  longer  burden  the  brethren's 
"sincere  love  for  him,  but  might  support  him- 
self."-^ Not  only  were  asylums  founded  for  or- 
phans, but  also  for  widows,  the  sick,  and  the  poor ; 

^''James  i.  27;  v.  4.      =^"I.  Apology,"  xiv. 
"'"Apostolic  Constitutions,"  IV.  1,  2. 


264  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

and  in  one  instance  at  least  buildings  were  pro- 
vided in  which  hapless  strangers  might  learn  "such 
occupations  as  are  necessary  to  life,  and  have  been 
found  essential  to  a  respectable  career.'"^*' 

There  is  an  old  story  of  Laurentius  the  deacon 
(d.  258)  who,  when  it  was  demanded  of  him  by 
the  persecuting  Roman  prefect  that  he  yield  up 
the  treasures  of  tlie  church,  which  were  reported 
to  be  very  great,  brought  forward  a  company  of 
the  old,  the  afflicted,  and  the  poor,  with  the  an- 
swer, "These  are  our  treasures."  Autlientic  or 
apocryphal,  the  story  is  trne.  It  pictures  the 
Churcli  of  that  age,  in  whicli  the  presence  of  the 
poor  was  regarded  as  a  distinct  enrichment  of  its 
life.  N^o  treasures  are  more  real  to  the  true- 
hearted  mother  tlian  her  dependent  little  chil- 
dren. 

More  than  any  otlier  man  tlie  bisliop,  then  as 
now,  stood  for  the  Churcli — its  representative,  its 
leader.  What,  then,  were  some  of  the  beneficent 
ofifices  required  of  him?  If  we  may  accept  the 
witness  of  the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  they  were 
such  as  these :  "Exhibiting  to  the  orphan  the  care 
of  parents ;  to  the  widow,  the  care  of  a  husband : 
to  those  of  suitable  age,  marriage ;  to  the  artificer, 
work ;  to  the  unable,  commiseration ;  to  the  stran- 
ger, a  house ;  to  the  hungry,  food ;  to  the  sick,  vis- 
itation :  to  the  prisoner,  assistance.'"-' 

^Basil,  "Epistle,"  94. 
^■"Apostolic  Constitutions,"  IV.  2, 


Funeiion:  Beneficence  266 

It  was  from  such  Christly  ministries  as  these, 
in  the  early  Church,  that  there  went  forth  the 
new  spirit  of  good  will  which  wrought  so  widely 
for  the  regeneration  of  society  in  that  hard  Ro- 
man world. 

i^ow  if  these  primitive  Christians  had  been  asked 
why  this  material  beneficence  should  not  be  left  to 
the  State,  or  at  least  to  Christians  and  other  phi- 
lanthropists in  their  private  capacity,  while  the 
Church,  as  such,  confined  its  attention  to  wor- 
ship, discipline,  and  the  spoken  word,  they  would 
probably  have  found  it  difficult  to  understand  the 
question.  It  had  never  entered  their  minds.  They 
had  not  so  learned  Christ.  They  looked  upon  the 
Church  as  a  spiritual  home  in  which  all  sympa- 
thy, helpfulness,  and  brotherhood  were  to  find  or- 
ganic expression,  and  the  l)0(ly  accordingly  was 
not  to  be  despised.  Until  the  leaven  of  asceticism, 
stealing  in  partly  from  pagan  sources,  corrupted 
the  simplicity  of  the  gospel,  to  be  unearthly  was 
not  glorified  into  a  condition  of  becoming  heav- 
enly. 

IV 

Under  a  Christian  civilization  many  beneficent 
institutions,  such  as  industrial  schools,  asylums, 
and  poor-relief  associations,  are  supported  by 
State  and  municipal  legislation,  while  many  others 
are  founded  and  maintained  by  private  benevo- 
lence. The  State  can  do  still  more  for  the  pre- 
vention and  relief  of  poverty,  and  the  promotion 


266  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

of  general  material  prosperity,  by  enlightened 
laws  for  the  suppression  of  vice  and  the  protec- 
tion of  the  weak  against  the  injustice  of  the  strong. 
In  all  this,  every  wellwisher  of  his  race  may  find 
cause  of  rejoicing  and  hope,  and  every  Christian 
see  some  sign  of  the  coming  of  God's  kingdom 
upon  earth.  In  it  all,  the  Church,  too,  so  far  as 
she  has  proved  true  to  her  Founder,  is  largely  in- 
fluential, as  a  teacher  and  inspirer  of  the  spirit  of 
humanity. 

But  in  addition  to  exerting  this  indirect  influ- 
ence, the  Church  must  still,  as  ever  of  old,  in  her 
organized  capacity,  claim  the  sphere  of  beneficence 
as  directly  and  peculiarly  her  own.  It  is  one  of 
the  chief  blessings  and  responsibilities  given  her  of 
God.  Shall  she  forget  that  in  a  very  true  sense 
here  are  her  "treasures"? 

Besides,  in  the  present  day  industrial  and  social 
conditions  are  making  a  special  demand  upon  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  the  Christian  people.  Po- 
litical freedom,  the  means  of  living,  and  general  in- 
telligence have  greatly  increased  in  the  last  hun- 
dred years.  But  the  same  hundred  years  has  been 
the  age  of  machinery,  and  through  this  cause  in- 
dustrial independence  has  been  declining.  Equal- 
ity of  rights  is  won,  but  equality  of  opportunity  to 
do  one's  best  for  oneself  is  yet  but  a  distant  dream. 

The  contrasts  of  wealth  and  poverty  have  grown 
more  numerous,  more  sharply  defined,  more  ir- 
ritating.    In  the  heart  of  the  cities  are  vast  con- 


function:  Beneficence  267 

gested  populations  of  the  helpless  poor,  out  of 
touch  with  the  more  prosperous  classes,  an  easy- 
prey  to  all  manner  of  vice,  estranged  from  the 
churches.  For  the  most  part  tliey  are  without 
knowledge,  without  opportunity^  and  (deepest  pov- 
erty, alas!  of  all)  without  aspiration.  In  hearing 
of  church  hells  and  good  Christian  sermons,  they 
care  little  or  nothing  for  such  things.  If  not  di- 
rectly antagonistic,  they  are  prejudiced  and  un- 
interested. Under  the  old  familiar  methods  of  the 
various  Protestant  churches,  the  gospel  has  failed 
to  gain  or  to  retain  its  hold  upon  them.-** 

Revivalism  is  good,  hut  not  sufficient:  it  can- 
not be.  Evangelistic  and  devotional  meetings  are 
indispensable;  but  there  are  physical  and  social 
needs  to  which  these  meetings  make  no  appeal, 
that  must  also  be  recognized  in  the  name  of  Christ 
at  their  true  value  and  in  their  right  relations. 
We   may   find   an   instructive   illustration   in   the 

=*"It  must  be  remembered  that  the  non-churchgoer, 
as  a  rule,  regards  as  a  bore  the  very  thing  which  the 
Christian  esteems  as  a  privilege,  and  that  in  order  to 
make  him  change  his  opinion  he  must  be  brought 
around  to  a  different  standpoint,  where  he  can  be 
made  to  see  that  the  Church  is  interested  in  the 
things  which  interest  him.  It  is  all  very  well  to  open 
our  church  doors  on  the  Lord's  day  and  say  to  the 
people,  'Come  in.'  The  sad  truth  is,  however,  that 
they  will  not  come  on  any  such  invitation."  (C.  A. 
Dickinson,  in  "Christianity  Practically  Applied,"  pp. 
359,  360.) 


268  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  which,  be- 
ginning with  the  prayer  meeting,  has  enlarged  its 
scope  to  inehide  the  reading  room  and  the  gym- 
nasium ;  and  in  the  Salvation  Army,  which  has 
added  to  its  street  preaching  the  lodging  house, 
the  shelter,  the  rescue  home,  the  farm  colony. 

Now  it  is  in  response,  not  wholly  but  especially, 
to  these  demands  of  our  own  time  that  the  Insti- 
tutional Church,  or,  as  it  may  preferably  be  called, 
the  Open  Church,  has  developed.-"  It  is  not  sec- 
tarian nor  even  denominational."'"  It  is  not  es- 
sentially new.  It  may  claim  close  kinship  with 
such  work  as  that  of  the  primitive  bishop,  who 
must  offer  "to  the  artificer,  work";  or  that  of 
Cyprian  of  Carthage,  who,  as  curator  of  the 
Church  funds,  even  while  in  exile,  saw  that  provi- 
sion was  made  to  pay  off  the  debts  of  Church 
members  and  "to  help  those  poor  mechanics  with 
a  convenient  sum  who  were  willing  to  set  up  their 
trades";  or  that  of  Wesley  in  London,  with  his 
dispensary,  and  home  for  the  poor,  and  loan  fund, 
and  Christian  school,  and  Christian  home,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Old   Foundry   Church ;  or  that 

**Mead,  "Modern  Methods  in  Church  Work,"  p.  IS. 

^"On  the  contrary,  it  makes  for  Christian  unity. 
"The  development  of  institutionalism  is  undoubtedly 
far  and  away  the  most  marked  feature  of  religious 
life  in  this  country  [England]  at  the  present  time. 
It  tends  to  knock  down  denominational  barriers  and 
also  to  reduce  to  a  minimum  theological  distinctions." 
(Albert  Dawson,  in  The  Congregational i at.) 


Fimction:  Beneficence  269 

of  Chalmers  in  Glasgow,  organizing  a  system  of 
service  for  the  poor  of  his  vast  parish  that  would 
relieve  their  wants  and  enlarge  their  opportunities 
without  encouraging  improvidence  and  pauperism  ; 
or  with  that  of  our  present-day  foreign  mission- 
aries. 


The  Open  Church  may  be  defined  as  "an  or- 
ganized body  of  Christian  believers,  who,  finding 
themselves  in  a  hard  and  uncongenial  social  envi- 
ronment, supplement  the  ordinary  methods  of  the 
gospel — such  as  preaching,  prayer  meeting,  Sun- 
day school,  and  pastoral  visitation — by  a  system 
of  organized  kindness,  a  congeries  of  institutions, 
which,  by  touching  people  on  physical,  social,  and 
intellectual  sides,  will  conciliate  them  and  draw 
them  within  reach  of  the  gospel."^^  It  is  not  its 
plan,  then,  to  lay  aside  any  of  the  old  methods, 
but  to  have  more  preaching,  Sunday-school  work, 
congregational  worship,  and  pastoral  visiting, 
rather  than  less.^^    It  proposes  to  keep  the  church 

"Judson,  "The  Institutional  Church,"  p.  31. 

^Tlie  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Memorial  Institutional 
Church  of  New  York  City  has  said:  "My  own  rule 
is  to  preach  twice  on  Sunday,  attend  my  Sunday 
school,  conduct  my  weekly  prayer  meetings,  and 
make  from  thirty  to  fifty  calls  a  week.  An  assistant 
cannot  do  this  in  lieu  of  a  pastor.  People  want  to 
see  the  same  man  in  the  pulpit  that  they  saw  by  the 
washtub  or  the   sick   bed.     Otherwise  the  charm  is 


270  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

doors  open  during  the  week  as  well  as  on  Sundays. 
But  it  would  also  add  other  rooms  and  other 
houses  to  the  house  of  the  Lord.  It  would  make 
tributary  to  its  ministry  of  preaching  and  teach- 
ing a  larger  and  more  systematic  ministry  to  the 
mind  and  the  body.  Accordingly  it  asks  for  much 
money  from  its  supporters,  and  for  that  which  is 
even  harder  to  command — for  much  time,  plan- 
ning, sympathy,  labor,  self-giving.  In  truth  it  is 
extremely  expensive,  as  practical  Christianity  al- 
ways has  been  and  always  will  be.  It  rests  under 
no  illusion  of  serving  the  Lord  with  that  which 
costs  nothing.  Its  appeal  is  to  the  unselfish  and 
heroic.^^ 

broken.  If  institutional  ism  means  to  replace  the 
old  regime  of  preaching  and  pastoral  work,  it  had 
better  take  itself  off."  (Judson,  "The  Institutional 
Church,"  p.  35.) 

^"Regarding  the  running  expenses,  the  Church 
membership  raises  but  a  small  part,  the  rest  being 
provided  for  by  the  Woman's  Board  of  City  Missions, 
who  have  a  large  number  of  persons  and  several 
church  societies  giving  systematically  to  the  work. 
In  addition,  there  is  also  the  Institutional  Church 
Club,  which  provides  for  several  thousand  dollars  an- 
nually, each  membership  in  this  club  being  twenty- 
five  dollars,  and  one  person  taking  one  or  more  mem- 
berships. The  membership  is  not  confined  to  the 
Methodist  Church,  but  includes  persons  of  all  sects 
and  creeds,  every  one  desirous  of  uplifting  his  broth- 
er or  sister  in  need."  (C.  W.  Moore,  pastor  of  Insti- 
tutional Church  in  Kansas  City.) 


Function:  Beneficence  271 

Finding  many  destitute  persons  in  the  commu- 
nity, it  would  provide  them  with  the  necessaries 
of  life — hence  the  lunch  room  and  the  lodging 
house;  finding  many  sick,  it  would  comfort  and 
heal  them — hence  the  dispensary  and  the  hospital ; 
finding  many  untrained  and  unemploj^ed,  it  would 
put  them  in  the  way  of  earning  a  livelihood — 
hence  the  sewing  school  and  the  employment  hu- 
reau;  finding  many  shiftless,  it  Avould  encourage 
frugality — hence  the  penny  savings  bank;  finding 
many  untutored  little  children  and  broken-spirited 
mothers,  it  would  gather  them  together  for  enter- 
taining instruction  and  good  cheer — hence  the 
kindergarten  and  the  mothers'  meeting;  finding 
young  men  and  others  without  homes  or  helpful 
associations,  exposed  to  the  unceasing  and  terrible 
temptations  of  city  life,  it  offers  them  the  gymna- 
sium, the  reading  room,  and  the  young  men's  club. 

It  is  true  that  very  many  Christian  congrega- 
tions employ  one  or  more  such  agencies,  without 
thereby  distinguishing  themselves  from  others,  or 
being  designated  by  any  new  name.  The  differ- 
ence between  these  and  churches  known  as  "in- 
stitutional," or  "open,"  or  "free"  (none  of  the 
names  is  altogether  satisfactory,  and  no  specific 
name  whatever  seems  to  be  necessary),  is  in  the 
quantity  rather  than  the  quality  of  their  subsidiary 
work.  The  motives  and  the  general  methods  are 
the  same  in  all. 

Now  to  say  that  the  leaders  of  the  Open  Church 


272  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

have  made  mistakes,  and  will  have  to  learn  from 
experience,  is  simply  to  say  that  they  are  not  per- 
fect or  infallible.  To  assert  that  an  organization 
of  this  kind  is  liable  to  abuse,  and  may  become  the 
occasion  of  evils,  is  only  to  assert  that  it  exists  on 
earth  and  not  above  the  stars. 

VI 

Nevertheless  it  is  pertinent  to  inquire,  concern- 
ing any  institution,  what  are  its  weaknesses  or 
danger  points,  and  how  any  threatening  evil  may 
be  averted.  As  to  the  Open  Church,  therefore, 
certain  questions  will  invite  consideration,  and 
may  suggest  answers. 

1.  Is  there  no  danger  from  over-organization? 
From  the  fad,  for  illustration,  that  in  tlie  human 
l)0(ly  two  arms  are  better  than  one,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  four  would  Ije  better  than  two.  So 
likewise  in  a  chiii'cli,  as  in  any  social  institution, 
an  undue  mull iplicat ion  of  organs  tends  toward 
the  overtaxing  of  the  vital  energies,  the  interfer- 
ence of  separate  activities,  and  dissipation  rather 
than  concentration  of  force.    Enough  is  enough. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  churches  that 
are  under-organized.  They  number  hiindi'cds  of 
members  who  have  no  specific  work  offered  them 
to  do — none  at  least  which  they  are  willing  to  ac- 
cept. IS'ew  forms  of  service,  suitable  to  their  gifts 
and  inclination,  might  help  to  solve  this  painful 
problem  of  the  unemployed. 


Function:  Beneficence  273 

Besides,  increase  in  the  vitality  of  a  church, 
which  must  multiply  its  labors  and  enlarge  its 
liberality,  is  usually  found  to  be  a  more  needful 
object  of  endeavor  than  restriction  of  its  beneficent 
undertakings. 

2.  May  not  the  benefactions  of  the  Open  Church 
pauperize  the  spirit  of  its  beneficiaries,  and  thus 
increase  even  outward  poverty  in  the  very  effort  to 
relieve  it? 

It  must  be  believed  that  such  effects  Avere  some- 
times produced  by  the  Christians  of  the  early 
Church,  in  its  "first  love,"  and  by  the  monks  at 
the  gates  of  the  monasteries  of  the  IMiddle  Ages, 
through  indiscriminate  charity;  for  in  not  a  few 
instances  they  seem  to  have  acted  habitually  on 
the  principle  that  it  were  better  to  gratify  ninety- 
nine  unworthy  applicants  than  to  deny,  in  the 
person  of  the  hundredth,  one  who  was  worthy. 
They  were  blindly  damaging  the  ninety-nine,  with 
many  others  through  them,  rather  than  taking 
reasonable  pains  to  discover  the  hundredth,  and 
minister  to  each  according  to  his  need  if  not  his 
request.  The  same  effects  are  no  doubt  produced 
by  much  of  the  giving  at  the  front  doors  and  the 
kitchen  doors  of  modern  American  homes.  Let  it 
be  seen  that  a  good  living  may  be  made  by  beg- 
ging, and  the  community  of  beggars  will  steadily 
increase — the  community  of  workers  proportion- 
ately diminishing.  Ancient  and  true  is  the  prov- 
erb. He  that  gives  to  all  denies  all. 
18 


274  The  Idea  of  the  ChuTch 

No  material  gifts  can  compensate  for  the  loss  of 
self-respect,  self-dependence,  selfhood.  Deeply  un- 
kind are  the  most  well-meant  kindnesses  of  its 
destroyers.  But  with  these  one  cannot  fairly  num- 
ber the  Open  Church.  Its  methods  are  adapted 
not  to  degrade  but  to  offer  brotherly  encouragement 
and  opportunity.  Its  giving  is  not  a  mere  m.o- 
mentary  gratification  of  kindly  feeling,  nor  a  hand 
impulsively  stretched  forth  in  the  dark,  nor  an 
easy  way  to  get  rid  of  a  troublesome  mendicant, 
nor  a  fancied  meritorious  act  with  which  to  atone 
for  the  sins  of  the  doer.  It  would  seem  to  be  in- 
structed as  well  as  organized  kindness.  "To  the 
artificer,  work ;  to  the  unable,  commiseration."""* 

Again,  it  is  far  from  being  a  fact  that  the  Open 

""The  institutional  church,  if  plentifully  supplied 
with  money,  is  in  danger  of  pauperizing  the  commu- 
nity in  which  it  is  located,  while  it  repels  the  self- 
respecting  workingman.  Families  three  miles  away 
have  been  advised  by  neighboring  charity  workers  to 
move  into  the  community  of  Ruggles  Street  Baptist 
Church  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  help;  and  when 
they  come  with  that  motive,  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  really  benefit  them."  (A.  C.  Dixon.)  Here,  doubt- 
less, is  a  pertinent  cautionary  example.  It  suggests 
more  carefulness,  but  not  less  earnestness,  in  apply- 
ing the  great  Church  principle  which  is  given  by  the 
M'riter  in  this  same  connection:  "The  body  is  re- 
deemed, and  Christians  should  do  all  they  can  to  re- 
lieve physical  wants,  but  the  great  work  of  the 
Church  is  the  redemption  of  the  soul,  and  everything 
else  should  be  made  secondary  to  that." 


Fu7ictwn:  Beneficence  275 

Church  is  for  the  very  poor  only.  It  is  also  for 
well-to-do  classes. 

3.  But  is  not  the  Church,  as  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  exemplified,  to  be  distinctively  inspiration- 
al and  educative?  Has  it  not  been  given  to  the 
world  as  a  home  of  the  soul,  in  which  under  the 
voice  of  prophet-preachers,  the  inspiration  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and  the  power  of  Christian  fellow- 
ship, men  are  to  be  qualified  for  labor  and  service 
in  all  spheres  of  human  welfare?  Should  not  the 
general  work  of  social  betterment  be  chiefly  done, 
therefore,  by  individual  Christians,  and  through 
municipal  and  State  action,  rather  than  by  the 
Church  in  its  organized  capacity  ?  Is  not  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  differentiation  of  function  to  be  here 
respected?  And  must  not  the  large  amount  and 
variety  of  work  undertaken  by  some  institutional 
clmrches,  in  addition  to  the  work  of  preaching,  in- 
struction, and  pastoral  care,  be  regarded  as  an  ex- 
ceptional and  not  a  typical  instance? 

To  such  a  line  of  queries,  an  affirmative  answer, 
I  must  believe,  may  be  returned.  But  "when  some 
of  the  bodily  members  are  out  of  order,  other  mem- 
bers are  compelled  to  do  the  work  of  the  disabled 
members  in  addition  to  their  own,"  and  similarly 
"in  abnormal  social  conditions  the  Church  is 
called  upon  to  do  the  work  of  several  social  in- 
strumentalities in  addition  to  her  own."^"^  If  the 
fundamental  principles  be  sound,  the  application 

"Hyde,  "Outlines  of  Social  Theology,"  p.  246. 


276  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

of  them  may  be  left  to  Christian  wisdom  and  love, 
under  the  varying  conditions  of  the  time. 

4.  Assuming  that  reading  rooms,  sewing  schools, 
gymnasiums,  employment  bureaus,  and  other  "in- 
stitutional" arrangements,  are  good  in  themselves, 
will  not  a  Church  lose  in  distinctly  spiritual  power 
by  devoting  so  large  an  amount  of  attention  to 
these  things? 

If  it  should  prove  to  be  so,  the  cause  of  the  new 
(or  new-old)  movement  is  unquestionably  lost. 
For  the  business  of  any  Christian  church,  firsi. 
last,  and  always,  is  to  turn  the  eyes  of  needy  and 
sinful  men  to  the  Cross.  Every  pastor  must  bo 
able  to  say,  with  the  chief  ])astor  of  the  Church  at 
Corinth,  "I  determined  not  to  know  anA^liing 
among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified." 
Whatever  would  rob  the  Christian  congregation  of 
spiritual  and  evangelic  power  is  thereby  worthy 
only  of  avoidance.  Moreover,  it  is  easily  conceiv- 
able that  a  church  in  which  the  evangelical  spirit 
is  feeble,  and  the  spirit  of  human  helpfulness  and 
kindness  relatively  strong,  may  make  the  impres- 
sion of  a  humanitarian  rather  than  a  spiritual 
force. 

But  that  the  tendency  of  large  and  self-sacri- 
ficing labors  in  Christ's  name,  for  the  temporal 
happiness  of  men,  is  to  diminish  a  church's  spirit- 
uality or  its  success  in  saving  souls,  has  not  yet 
been  proved.  The  evidence  points  strongly  in  the 
opposite  direction.     Spiritual  success,  as  attested 


Function:  Beneficence  277 

by  professions  of  conversion,  purified  lives,  at- 
tendance upon  preaching  and  devotional  services, 
and  activity  in  the  Lord's  work,  seems  to  have  been 
greatly  increased  by  the  enlarged  ministration  to 
the  outward  wants  of  the  community.^" 

5.  May  not  making  such  a  business  of  beneficent 
and  religious  activity  steal  the  soul  away  from  the 
quiet  hour  of  Divine  communion  ? 

The  question  is  pertinent  to  any  large  partici- 
pation in  outward  religious  affairs  and  activities, 
whether  in  the  Open  Church  or  in  any  other;  and 
it  deserves  serious  attention.  It  is  in  the  secret 
of  his  presence  that  the  soul  is  clothed  with  power 
to  do  the  work  of  God.  Let  it  be  cumbered  with 
much  serving,  to  the  neglect  of  sitting  at  Jesus' 
feet  to  learn  immediately  from  him,  and  the  serv- 
ing may  often  be  little  better  than  busy  idleness. 
It  will  lack  the  touch  of  spiritual  power.  It  will 
not  awaken  in  men  as  it  might  the  consciousness 
of  the  Divine.  The  calmness  of  mind,  the  quick- 
ened sense  of  eternal  realities,  the  openness  to  the 
]\ [aster's  mind  and  teaching,  which  comes  through 
daily  meditation  and  prayer,  alone  with  God — no 
liusiness  of  beneficence  can  serve  as  a  substitute 
for  that. 

'"Russell  H.  Conwell,  The  Story  of  a  Clmrch,  in 
"Christianity  Practically  Applied";  McCulloch,  "Tlie 
Open  Church,"  pp.  51-53;  Mead,  "Modern  Methods  in 
Church  Work,"  Chap.  XLIIL;  Gladden,  "The  Chris- 
tian  Pastor,"  pp.  408,  411,  412;  Strong,  "Social  Prog- 
ress" (1904),  p.  221. 


278  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

At  all  times,  in  all  eireiimstances,  in  the  modern 
as  in  the  ancient  age,  the  Christian  way  is  the 
same — the  uplifted  heart  in  the  inner  chamber, 
the  diligent  hand  in  the  world  of  men.  Was  it  not 
the  way  of  Jesus,  who  said,  "We  must  do  the  works 
of  Him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is  day,"  on  whose 
lips  there  ever  dwelt  the  word  in  season  for  each 
several  soul,  through  whose  hands  there  thrilled 
the  healing  and  uplifting  power  of  God?  "He 
that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bear- 
eth  much  fruit." 


IV 

THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  FOEWAED  MOVE- 
MENT: AT  HOME 

In  all  the  institutes  and  activities  of  the  Church, 
its  creeds,  rites,  and  polity,  its  proclaiming,  teach- 
ing, nurturing,  and  beneficence,  there  is  contained 
the  idea  of  self-extension.  It  is  not  a  statutory 
but  a  constitutional  idea.  That  the  Church  should 
merely  continue  to  live,  holding  its  own,  is  an  in- 
tolerable conception.  It  contradicts  the  law  of 
life.  Like  any  plant  of  the  earth,  this  plant 
which  the  heavenly  Father's  hand  has  planted, 
must  grow  and  increase,  self-multiplying.  Its  life 
must  be  lived  and  its  fruit  borne  not  only  in  Ju- 
dea,  the  home  land,  and  in  Samaria,  the  border 
land,  but  in  unknown  isles  and  continents  even 
unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth.^ 

Nor  is  there  any  essential  difference  in  the  life 
work  of  the  Church,  as  appointed  by  Christ,  in 
different  ages  or  in  different  lands.  "Ancient" 
and  "modern,"  "at  home"  and  "abroad,"  are  here 
but  superficial  terms.  The  Church's  time  is  always 
and  its  place  everywhere.  Circumstances  do  great- 
ly differ;  but  the  inner  spiritual  need,  the  word  of 
salvation,  the  power  of  the  ever-present  Spirit — 
these  do  not  differ  nor  change  nor  pass   away. 

^Acts  i.  8. 

(279) 


280  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

They  bear  the  marks  of  no  congregational  or  geo- 
graphical or  racial  distinctions. 

N'either  ma}^  the  evangelist  in  Christendom  con- 
vey his  Master's  message  in  any  less  perfect  spirit 
of  consecration  than  that  which  marks  his  broth- 
er evangelist  in  heathendom.  There  are  voca- 
tions, indeed,  to  peculiar  outward  sufferings  and 
heroic  endeavor — to  isolation,  homelessness,  dead- 
ly peril.  And  the  responses  to  them  are  not  few 
or  hesitant.  If  Mazzini,  the  Italian  patriot-leader, 
could  say  that  the  appeal  to  "come  and  suffer" 
was  one  he  had  never  known  to  fail,  it  would  be 
sad  for  the  leaders  in  the  Church  of  Christ  if  they 
had  had  no  similar  experience.  The  Church's  ap- 
peal to  self-sacrifice  and  heroism  has  not  failed. 
Christ's  witnesses,  men  and  women  alike,  are  still 
going  to  the  farthest  regions  of  the  earth,  his  evan- 
gel on  their  lips  and  the  steady  glow  of  his  love  in 
their  hearts.  Cultured  young  Christians,  loving 
neither  home  nor  friends  nor  native  land  nor  their 
own  lives  more  than  they  love  Jesus  Christ,  offer 
themselves  freely  for  this  difficult  and  far-away 
labor  of  love.  Shall  we  not  call  them  preeminent- 
ly sons  and  daughters  of  the  Cross  ?  But  the  world 
over,  the  brotherhood  of  workers  is  one  in  the  mis- 
sionary motive,  and  the  work  is  one. 

I 

At  present  each  Christian  congregation,  wher- 
ever found,  is  but  a  light-bearer  amid  much  dark- 


Forward  Movement :  At  Home  281 

ness.  "The  seven  candlesticJtS  are  seven  churches" 
still.  All  about  them  are  the  unevangelized.  If 
there  have  been  periods  of  time  in  which  whole 
communities,  or  practically  whole  nations,  were 
church  members — as,  for  instance,  in  England 
when  the  entire  population  was  supposed  to  be 
baptized  into  the  Church,  and  nonattendance  upon 
public  worship  was  punishable  with  a  fine,  or  in 
some  European  countries  to-day — it  is  because 
the  church  life  has  been  more  nominal  than  real. 
The  darkness  is  within  its  own  pale ;  the  unevan- 
gelized are  there,  with  perhaps  a  little  company 
of  Christian  witnesses,  an  inner  Israel,  among 
them. 

In  our  country  from  two-thirds  to  three-fourths 
of  the  people  are  members  of  no  Christian  com- 
munion, Roman  Catholic  or  Protestant,  Evangel- 
ical or  Liberal.  About  four-fifths  are  outside  the 
Evangelical  Churches.  Whether  the  case  be  that 
of  a  congregation  in  the  crowded  city  or  in  some 
thinly  populated  rural  region,  the  same  general 
conditions  prevail:  all  about  the  church  are  those 
who  make  no  personal  confession  of  Christ.  An 
exception  to  the  rule  is  so  rare  as  to  become  nota- 
ble. 

True  everywhere,  this  fact  is  most  patent  and 
formidable  in  our  chief  cities.  Because  in  these 
communities  the  human  world  as  it  is,  in  its 
strength  and  weakness,  in  its  virtues  and  vices,  in 
its  overflowing  life  and  its  numberless  gateways  of 


^82  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

death,  most  completely  appears.  In  the  country 
is  nature ;  in  the  city  is  man. 

Besides,  the  universal  tendency  is  toward  an  in- 
creasing growtli  of  the  urhan  as  compared  with  the 
rural  population.  The  migration  is  not  from  city 
to  country,  hut  from  tlie  wide  spaces  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  already  overcrowded  city. 

Why  should  it  he  so?  One  answer  is  that  there 
are  peculiar  economic  reasons  for  such  a  course  of 
events  in  present-day  civilization.  The  utilizing 
of  natural  forces  for  industrial  purposes  is  trans- 
ferring the  world's  work  from  country  to  city ;  and 
where  the  work  is,  there  the  workers  will  gather 
together.  But  there  is  a  deeper  reason,  wholly  in- 
dependent of  economic  conditions.  It  is  the  same 
reason  that  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  novel 
and  the  newspaper  are  more  sought  after,  beyond 
all  comparison,  than  any  other  form  of  literature. 
It  is  the  resistless  power  of  the  gregarious  instinct. 
It  is  the  spell  of  that  world-old  magician — Society. 
Men  would  he  with  their  fellows.  The  great  surg- 
ing tides  of  a  life  kindred  with  one's  own  yield  an 
unceasing  pleasurable  excitement.  The  street  is 
a  fellowship,  an  entertainment,  a  constant  mental 
tonic.  The  miserable  slum-dweller  who  came  back 
after  an  absence  of  some  weeks  from  the  comfort- 
able home  that  had  been  secured  for  her  in  the 
country,  to  her  apartment  in  the  filthy  tenement 
house,  furnished  the  master  key  to  the  problem 
in  a  single  homelv  and  heartfelt  word:  "I  like 


Forward  Moveinent:  At  Home  28<^ 

people  more  than  stumps.'"  It  is  an  abounding 
life  of  like  nature  with  one's  own  that  fascinates 
and  compels. 

The  tables  of  the  statistician  are  here  quite 
worthy  of  attention.  It  has  been  shown  that  in 
England,  Germany,  France,  even  in  Russia — sub- 
stantially in  the  whole  of  Europe — the  growth  of 
(he  cities  is  far  outstripping  that  of  the  country. 
In  our  own  land  the  facts  are  no  less  noteworthy. 
In  the  year  1800  there  were  six  cities  (i.  e.,  towns 
of  eight  thousand  or  more  inhabitants)  in  the 
United  States;  in  1890,  four  hundred  and  forty- 
eight.  In  1800  about  four  per  cent,  of  the  popu- 
lation lived  in  cities;  in  1890,  between  twenty- 
nine  and  thirty  per  cent. — the  increase  being  from 
a  twenty-fifth  to  nearly  a  third  .- 

Furthermore,  the  proportion  of  church-goers 
to  the  total  population  is  much  less  in  the  great 
cities  than  in  the  country.  According  to  fairly 
recent  statistics,  in  New  York  it  is  one  in  thirteen ; 
in  Chicago,  one  in  nineteen ;  in  Cincinnati,  one  in 
twenty-three.  And  it  is  also  to  be  noted  that  a 
much  larger  proportion  of  workingmen  than  of 
the  other  classes  is  outside  the  pale  of  the  church- 
es.^ To  a  church  in  a  city  of  the  first  century  it 
was  written :  "Among  whom  [namely,  an  ungodly 
and  f reward  generation]  ye  are  seen  as  lights  in 

^'Wright,  "Practical  Sociology,"  pp.  115,  116. 
'Loomis,  "Modern  Cities,"  p.  89. 


284  11  w  Idea  of  the  Church 

the  world,  holding  forth  the  word  of  life."*  What 
would  be  the  difference  in  an  apostolic  description 
of  a  church  in  the  twentieth  century  city  ? 

II 

Now  it  is  such  facts  as  these,  concerning  which 
volumes  might  be  and  already  have  been  written, 
that  are  stirring  the  hearts  of  Christian  teachers 
and  leaders  to  organize  special  movements  for  the 
Christianization  of  the  cities;  and  it  seems  fitting 
that  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  movements 
should  have  been  started  in  the  chief  city  of  Chris- 
tendom and  of  the  world. 

Let  us,  then,  take  the  recent  Christianizing  en- 
terprises of  London  as  illustrative  examples  of  the 
general  home  missionary  enterprise  of  the  Church. 

This  world-city  contains,  within  a  circumference 
of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  seven 
million  inhabitants ;  and  the  number  is  increasing 
at  the  rate  of  over  a  hundred  thousand  annually. 
According  to  an  estimate  made  a  few  years  ago 
as  to  the  seating  capacity  of  all  the  houses  of  wor- 
ship in  the  city,  if  some  bright  Sunday  morning 
every  seat  should  be  occupied,  there  would  still  be 
two  and  a  half  million  people  unprovided  for. 

Vice,  organized  here  as  elsewhere  by  the  love  of 
money,  is  largely  in  possession  of  the  field.  Its 
organization  is  thorough,  and  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion to  the  bodies  and  souls  of  its  myriad  victims 

'Phil.  ii.  15,  16. 


ForiDard  Movement:  At  Home         285 

ceases  not  for  one  moment,  day  nor  night. 
Through  well-hiid  plans  and  industrious  agents-, 
these  two  powerful  allies,  vice  and  covetousness, 
are  entrapping  an  ever-renewed  multitude  of  young 
men  and  women,  from  the  country  and  elsewhere, 
in  the  toils  of  intemperance  and  impurity. 
Whether  the  churches  be  open  or  closed,  the  house 
of  death  is  always  open,  and  the  paths  leading  to 
it  are  made  smooth  and  alluring.  The  depth  and 
extent  of  these  evil  conditions  are  unimaginable. 
Little  marvel,  then,  if  those  who  kept  looking  upon 
such  things  with  their  own  eyes,  and  with  a  heart 
of  Christian  compassion,  should  have  been  driven 
to  devise  scheme  after  scheme,  and  to  put  forth 
some  lifelong  endeavor,  for  the  evangelization  of 
this  "nerve  center  of  civilization  and  Christianity." 

Many  local  churches — especially  Anglican,  Con- 
gregational, and  Baptist — have  taken  up  this  home 
missionary  work,  mingling  physical  and  social 
with  evangelistic  ministries,  as  their  special  voca- 
tion. Besides,  there  have  been  started  three  re- 
markable movements  of  wider  scope,  which  may 
be  taken  as  fairly  representative  of  the  whole  re- 
clamatory  undertaking. 

These  are  the  Social  Settlement,  the  Wesleyan 
Forward  Movement,  and  the  Salvation  Army. 

All  three  of  these  movements,  it  will  be  seen, 
have  adopted  the  principle  of  adaptation  as  their 
dominant  working  principle,  and  all  have  followed 
the  same  general  methods  as  the  Open  Church. 


286  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

III 

The  idea  of  the  Social  Settlement  took  shape 
under  the  influence  of  such  men  as  Charles  Kings- 
ley  and  Thomas  Arnold — men  of  high  culture  and 
of  Christian  humanitarian  impulses,  on  whoso 
hearts  the  distressing  economic  and  social  condi- 
tions of  English  city  life  lay  as  an  intolerable 
burden. 

An  ancient  university,  with  its  single-minded 
devotion  to  scliolarship  or  culture,  and  its  clois- 
tered intellectual  life,  away  from  the  stir  of  the 
streets,  mills,  and  market  places,  and  from  the 
homes  of  the  people,  might  seem  to  be  the  most 
unpromising  of  places  in  which  to  originate  a 
warm-hearted,  brotherh'  movement  for  enriching 
the  lot  of  the  poor.  But  it  is  not  so.  Investigat- 
ing all  subjects  of  human  interest,  the  universitj^ 
studies  the  human  being  himself,  and  in  his  social 
no  less  than  in  his  other  relations ;  so  that  it  may 
Avell  be  found  fostering  a  spirit  of  humanity.  At 
any  rate  it  was  in  Oxford  University  that  the  idea 
of  the  educated  sharing  their  advantages  with  the 
least  favored  sections  of  society,  by  actually  mak- 
ing a  home  among  them,  first  assumed  the  form 
of  the  University,  or  Social,  Settlement. 

By  making  a  liorne  among  them:  here  is  to  be 
seen  the  most  distinctive  mark  of  the  Settlement — 
not  so  much  in  its  spirit  of  fraternity  as  in  its  spe- 
cific method  of  continuous  social  contact,  or  life- 
sharing. 


Forward  Movement:  At  Horns  287 

Toynbee  Hall  was  opened  in  Whitechapel,  the 
most  miserable  and  notoriously  immoral  district 
of  London,  in  the  year  1885.  The  life  of  the 
young  man,  Arnold  Toynbee,  through  the  inspi- 
ration of  whose  example  it  was  founded,  may  be 
taken  as  typical  of  its  aims  and  methods.  The 
son  of  a  well-known  medical  specialist,  a  distin- 
guished student  of  Oxford,  of  thoughful  tempera- 
ment and  frail  bodily  health,  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  AA^hitechapel,  and,  unto  the  day  of  his  un- 
timely death,  dwelt  among  its  wretched  inhabit- 
ants, that  he  might  help  them  to  live  better  and 
happier  lives. 

The  educated  young  men,  chiefly  college  grad- 
uates, who  have  since  resided  in  the  Hall,  would 
live  such  a  life  of  manly  helpfulness.  By  teach- 
ing, libraries,  lectures,  art  exhibitions,  country 
outings,  social  evenings  with  reading  and  music, 
and,  above  all,  through  fellowship,  with  no  spirit 
of  patronage  or  feeble  sentimentalism,  but  as 
neighbors  and  elder  brothers,  they  would  lift  up 
the  despairing,  reform  the  vicious,  and  elevate  the 
lives  of  the  workingmen  about  them. 

From  this  beginning  the  movement  has  ex- 
tended not  only  in  "outcast  London"  but  to  va- 
rious cities  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States.^  And  it  has  shown  itself  to  be  everywhere 
at    heart    a    Christian    missionary    undertaking.'' 

^Strong,  "Social  Progress"    (1904),  pp.  218-220. 
*"This  idea!   [that  of  the  university]   of  culture  is 


288  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

Some  of  the  Settlements — as,  for  example,  Oxford 
House  and  ]\Iansfiekl  House  in  London,  and  The 
Commons  in  Chicago — are  distinctly  religious  in- 
stitutions -^  all  of  them  are  giving  practical  cfl'cct 
to  the  spirit  of  sclf-sacrificiug  brotherhood  which 
finds  its  highest  expression  in  the  gospel  of  the 
Kingdom. 

IV 

The  Wcsleyan  Forward  ^Movement  received  its 
first  creative  impulse  from  the  Mission  Halls  of 
the  Congregational  Union,  and  the  pamphlet, 
"The  Bitter  Cry  of  Outcast  London,"  that  Avas 
sent  forth  from  them  in  October,  1883.  Its  or- 
ganization dates  from  the  year  1885.  Under  the 
able  leadership  of  Hugh  Price  Hughes  and  others, 

essentially  social,  missionary,  commuuicative.  Given 
a  group  of  persons  possessed  by  these  modern  con- 
ceptions, and  a  certain  concerted  effort  at  betterment 
of  life  is  sure  to  follow.  Persons  under  the  spell  of 
the  word  dxity  and  charged  with  sympathy,  inspired 
by  a  religious  view  of  the  world,  will  somehow  at- 
tempt to  reread  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ."  (Hender- 
son, "Social  Settlements,"  p.  83.) 

'"Mansfield  House  is  a  University  Settlement, 
founded  for  practical  helpfulness,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  in  all  that  affects  human  welfare.  We 
war,  in  the  Master's  name,  against  all  evil — selfish- 
ness, injustice,  vice,  disease,  starvation,  ignorauce, 
ugliness,  and  squalor;  and  seek  to  build  up  God's 
kingdom  in  brotherhood,  righteousness,  purity,  health, 
truth,  and  beauty."     (Creed  of  Mansfield  House.) 


Forxoard  Movement:  At  Home  289 

it  has  found  a  most  fruitful  field  in  London,  East 
and  West,  and  has  given  rise  to  similar  move- 
ments in  other  English  cities  and  elsewhere. 

It  was  a  bold  innovation,  and  consequently 
much  neglected  or  spoken  against  by  many  of 
those  to  whom  it  might  have  looked  as  its  natural 
supporters. 

The  missionary  work  of  the  Wesleyans  in  the 
city  had  been  done  with  preaching  and  prayer 
services  in  inexpensive  chapels  meagerly  sup- 
ported, and  by  no  means  under  the  ablest  superin- 
tendence that  the  Church  might  have  commanded. 
It  is  an  old  and  almost  everywhere  a  still  familiar 
method.  But  it  had  never  proved  successful 
among  the  unchurched  millions  of  the  English 
metropolis.  It  had  failed  to  arrest  attention  and 
awaken  interest.  The  down-town  churches  them- 
selves, once  strong  and  flourishing,  were  diminish- 
ing in  membership,  some  of  them  ready  to  be  aban- 
doned, through  the  removal  of  their  members  to 
the  more  desirable  residential  localities,  and  the 
failure  to  gather  in  the  less  well-to-do  classes 
which  were  still  in  multitudes  about  their  doors. 
Instead  of  advancing,  as  in  the  days  of  their  early 
triumphs,  the  Wesleyans  seemed  to  be  losing  hold, 
especially  on  their  peculiar  inheritance,  the  poor.® 

It  was  in  these  circumstances  that  Hugh  Price 
Hughes,  when  asked  by  his  Conference  to  take 

»McCulloch,     "The     Open     Church     for     the     Un- 
churched," pp.  33-40. 
19 


290  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

charge  of  the  new  movement,  gave  his  consent 
only  on  condition  that  social  methods  be  freely 
employed,  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  people  and  pre- 
pare the  way  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  that  the 
Church's  best  resources  in  men  and  money  be  de- 
voted to  the  undertaking.  "The  old  methods  of 
aggression,"  he  said,  "are  as  suitable  in  these  stir- 
ring days  as  the  stagecoach,  the  tinder  box,  and 
the  wooden  ship.''®  The  proposed  conditions  wore 
accepted.  The  Wesleyans  put  their  best  men  and 
many  thousands  of  silver  and  gold  into  the  new 
enterprise.  At  the  present  time  they  are  investing 
nearly  a  million  dollars  in  the  erection  and  fur- 
nishing of  mission  halls  in  London,  and  over  four 
millions  in  the  same  work  in  other  cities.^" 

But  just  as  the  great  mechanical  inventions 
were  regarded  at  first  by  many  good  and  sensible 
people  with  indifference  or  antagonism,  so  has 
it  been,  from  age  to  age,  with  the  new  methods 
and  means  devised  for  adapting  the  unchangeable 
gospel  of  Christ  to  the  ever-changing  circumstances 
of  time.  It  is  related  that  when  the  illustrious 
French  pulpit  orator,  Bossuet,  asked  the  philoso- 
pher Leibnitz  whether  he  could  find  a  way  to  pre- 
vent the  perpetual  variations  of  Protestantism, 
that  brilliant  intellectual  pathfinder  replied :  "It 
suits  us,  Monseigneur,  to  belong  to  this  moving 

•"Life  of  Hugh  Price  Hughes,"  by  his  daughter, 
pp.  ?03-205,  512. 

"McCulloch,  "The  Open  Church,"  p.  53. 


Forward  Movement:  At  Home  291 

and  eternally  variable  Church."  That  was  the 
sentiment  of  the  leaders  in  the  Forward  Move- 
ment. To  reform  the  gospel  was  not  in  all  their 
thoughts,  but  to  make  the  wisest  possible  use  of 
it — ^to  develop  into  greater  effectiveness  the  modes 
of  its  application  to  the  needs  of  men. 

Were  they  reminded  that  the  "old  and  well-tried 
ways"  were  good,  and  should  be  forever  followed? 
The  answer  was  obvious  enough.  Their  eccle- 
siastical founder,  with  all  his  caution,  conserva- 
tism, and  unaffected  veneration  for  the  past,  was 
the  most  daring  of  innovators.  He  felt  the  mys- 
tery and  might  of  the  old,  but  dwelt  not  therein. 
He  would  utilize  street  preaching,  lay  preaching, 
the  class  meeting,  the  itinerancy,  avitocratie  gov- 
ernment, any  not  unrighteous  expedient,  however 
novel,  that  the  success  of  his  ministry  seemed  to 
demand.  But  the  methods  for  evangelizing  an 
England  of  villages  in  the  eighteenth  century  are 
not  the  most  successful  methods,  for  evangelizing 
an  England  of  cities  in  our  present  restless  and 
perilous  age.  To  follow  Wesley  was  to  be  always 
ready  for  the  doing  of  some  new  thing.  "iSTot 
parasites  on  the  past,  but  pioneers  of  the  future." 

The  method  of  the  Movement  is  that  of  a  cen- 
tral Mission  Hall  with  a  number  of  Open  Church- 
es connected  with  it.  The  Hall,  which  in  sonic 
cases  was  a  down-town  chapel  that  had  been  de- 
serted by  its  congregation,  and  on  the  eve  of  aban- 
donment^ is  also  organized  on  the  open  church 


292  The  Idm  of  the  Church 

plan,  and  becomes  a  center  of  helpful  Christian 
ministries  to  thousands  of  attendants. 

Its  Sunday  services  are  marked  by  such  fea- 
tures as  the  Boys'  Brigade ;  the  Sunday  school ;  the 
Pleasant  Sunday  Afternoon  (for  men,  with  music 
and  an  address  on  some  subject  of  interest)  ;  the 
Workers'  Board  (at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
with  tea,  an  address,  and  prayer)  ;  the  circuit  of 
the  brass  band  through  the  streets  of  the  neigh- 
borhood about  six  o'clock,  followed  by  distributors 
of  tracts  and  announcements ;  the  going  forth  of 
various  little  companies  to  hold  cottage  prayer 
meetings  and  lodging-house  prayer  meetings;  the 
evening  evangelistic  services,  with  music  by  tlie 
orchestra,  and  a  strong  sermon  or  address,  at 
which  there  will  probably  be  professions  of  con- 
version ;  and  perhaps  toward  midnight,  for  tbc 
sake  of  the  men  and  women  just  coming  out  of  the 
saloons,  a  stereopticon  service. 

During  the  week  the  Hall  is  kept  regularly 
open,  and  affords  accommodations  for  evangelistic 
meetings,  the  Men's  Clubs,  the  Mothers'  Meeting, 
Sewing  Classes,  Cooking  Classes.  In  connection 
with  the  mission  are  such  institutions  as  the  Pen- 
ny Bank,  the  Provident  Club,  the  Hospital,  the 
Servants'  Registry,  the  Soup  Kitchen,  and  others. 
There  is  much  freedom  and  sociability,  but  every 
meeting  is  under  earnest  moral  leadership;  and 
Christian  obedience  is  the  keynote  of  it  all. 

The  Hall  is  the  center  of  administration  to  its 


Forward  Mcmement:  At  Home         293 

group  of  affiliated  Open  Churches,  and  it  simply 
multiplies  its  work  through  them. 

The  superintendent  of  a  mission  must  be  a  min- 
ister, but  most  of  the  work  is  done  by  laymen  and 
without  pay. 

Why  sliould  the  Hall  be  called  by  that  name 
rather  than  by  the  name  churcJi  or  chapel?  Be- 
cause the  latter  names  are  unattractive  or  even 
forbidding  to  many  of  the  people,  while  the  name 
hall  is  not.  Here,  for  example,  is  a  group  of  ten 
or  twelve  houses  or  apartments  occupied  by  non- 
fhnrch-going  workingmen.  j^ow  if  it  should  trans- 
pire that  one  of  these  men  has  begun  to  attend 
church  or  chapel,  he  is  more  or  less  ostracized  by 
the  rest.  They  look  upon  him  as  having  entered 
into  other  associations,  foreign  to  their  sympa- 
thies; and  thus  the  influence  of  society  tends  to 
draw  him  back.  But  he  may  frequent  a  hall  and 
hear  music  or  lectures  or  sermons,  and  attend  so- 
ciables, religious  meetings,  and  what  not,  without 
any  compromise  of  social  standing  among  his  com- 
panions. George  Fox  made  it  a  matter  of  con- 
science not  to  apply  the  name  church  to  any  house 
of  worship.  "Steeple-house"  was  his  derogatory 
term.  The  Wesleyans  are  older  and  wiser :  they 
simply  leave  off  the  name  where  it  would  cause 
their  brother  to  stumble.  "To  the  weak  I  became 
weak,  that  I  might  gain  the  weak." 


294  The  Idea  of  the  Church 


The  other  of  these  three  organized  endeavors  to 
answer  "the  bitter  cry  of  outcast  London"  has 
become  a  widely  extended  institution.  William 
Booth,  its  founder,  was  a  Methodist  preacher  at 
the  age  of  seventeen.  In  the  year  1861,  at  thirty- 
two  years  of  age,  he  gave  himself  up  wholly  to 
evangelistic  work,  apart  from  all  organic  church 
connection.  In  1865  he  organized  in  East  Lon- 
don the  "Christian  Mission."  About  ten  years 
thereafter,  he  named  this  mission,  which  mean- 
time had  developed,  under  his  leadership,  strong 
military  features,  "The  Salvation  Army.'' 

The  fundamental  principle  on  which  the 
"Army"  is  organized  is  that  of  strict  obedience 
to  orders,  for  the  sake  of  the  conquest  of  men, 
soul  and  body,  to  Jesus  Christ.^^  There  is  a  com- 
mander in  chief,  the  "General,"  under  whom  it 
serves  in  all  the  thirty-nine  countries  and  colonies 
into  which  it  has  up  to  this  time  extended  its  op- 
erations. His  power  is  autocratic.  The  Army 
can  occupy  no  new  field,  nor  undertake  any  new 
work,  without  his  authorit}'.  All  officers  above 
the  rank  of  "staff  captain"  are  appointed  either 
directly  by  him  or  with  his  indirect  approval.  All 
property  is  held  in  trust  by  him  or  his  appointees. 
All  literature,  music,  songs,  titles,  and  uniforms 

""Orders  and  Regulations  for  Soldiers  of  the  Sal- 
vation Army,"  pp.  99,  100. 


Forwa/rd  Movement:  At  Home         295 

are  under  his  regulation.  He  appoints  his  own 
suceessor.^^ 

Women  are  eligible,  equally  with  men,  to  all 
offices  and  forms  of  service.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
they  fill  nearly  half  the  official  positions.  The 
woman's  call  to  preach  is  strongly  maintained  on 
scriptural  and  other  grounds. 

From  the  first,  family  life  has  been  greatly  hon- 
ored, and  minute  directions  are  given  for  its  regu- 
lation.^' The  officers  wife  must  be  a  Salvationist, 
the  home  a  strictly  Christian  home,  the  children 
trained  for  the  service  of  the  Army.  Here  a 
bright  example  appears  in  General  and  Mrs. 
Booth  themselves,  whose  marriage  and  home  life 
are  described  as  ideal,  and  whose  children  have 
followed  in  their  footsteps. 

It  was  about  the  year  1887  that  the  Army, 
whose  work  had  hitherto  been  purely  evangelistic, 
began  to  enlarge  its  plans  so  as  to  include  social 
service.  It  now  numbers  between  six  and  seven 
hundred  social  institutions  for  the  poor.  The 
principles  on  which  they  are  conducted  are  those 
of  gratuitous  assistance  in  cases  of  extreme  neces- 
sity; and  more  especially  friendly  cooperation — in 
the  way  of  providing  work,  stimulating  self-re- 
spect, and  offering  instruction  in  some  method  of 
gaining  a  livelihood — with  those  who  are  willing 

""The    Whys    and    Wherefores    of    the    Salvation 
Army,"  pp.  5-7. 
"Bramwell  Booth,  "Servants  of  All,"  p.  99. 


296  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

to  help  themselves.  The  highest  object,  always 
kept  in  view,  is  their  personal  salvation. 

Like  the  Society  of  Friends,  the  Salvation 
Army,  having  no  ordained  ministry  or  administra- 
tion of  sacraments,  does  not  seek  to  be  known  as 
a  church.  It  is  a  non-ecclesiastical  religious  order. 
Its  leading  doctrines,  Avhich  have  been  fully  and 
unequivocally  defined,  are  those  of  Methodism. 
Its  moral  code  shows  a  rigid,  pure,  and  elevated 
standard  of  Christian  character  and  conduct.  Its 
attitude  toward  the  churches  is  that  of  a  common 
aim  and  of  practical  helpfulness,  but  with  entire 
independence.  Theoretically  its  members  may 
also  be  church  members,  but  the  claim  which  it 
makes  upon  their  loyalty  and  service  practically 
cuts  them  off  from  membership  in  any  other  Chris- 
tian body.  ^lany  of  its  converts,  however,  do  be- 
come members  of  some  church." 

Such  entire  separateness  from  the  Christian 
churches  as  organized,  with  their  teaching,  sacra- 
ments, and  fellowship,  must  be  accounted  a  se- 
rious defect  in  this  unique  evangelistic  agency. 
Whose  is  tlie  fault  and  in  what  direction  may  be 
found  the  remedy — let  the  wise-liearted  determine. 

It  must  also  be  admitted  that  such  an  organiza- 
tion, with  its  often  grotesque  spectacular  meth- 
ods, and  its  excessiAC   multiplication  of  military 

""Whys  and  "Wherefores  of  the  Salvation  Army," 
pp.  3,  4.  See  also  Catherine  Booth's  "The  Salvation 
Army  in  Relation  to  Church  and  State." 


Ffyniiard  Movement:  At  Home         297 

terms — its  brigadiers,  colonels,  adjutants,  ser- 
geant majors,  cadets,  barracks,  articles  of  war, 
cartridges,  and  the  rest — will  offend  the  taste  of 
many  cultured  Christian  people.  What  is  of  more 
serious  concern,  it  has  seemed  to  many  chargeable 
with  an  irreverent  handling  of  sacred  themes. 

Let  us  remember,  however,  that  amid  the  wide 
divergences  of  taste  in  any  community,  concern- 
ing which  it  has  become  proverbial  that  there  is 
"no  disputing,"  Christian  wisdom  will  require  that 
means  and  methods  shall  be  adapted  to  the  people, 
whether  cultured  or  crude,  whom  it  is  intended  to 
serve.  And  as  to  reverence,  care  must  be  taken 
not  to  confound  the  inner  spirit  with  the  impres- 
sion which  its  outward  forms  may  produce  upon 
the  mind  of  an  unsympathetic  observer. 

Certainly  (if  an  ad  hominem  argument  be  ad- 
missible) the  ordinary  fashionable  Christian  con- 
gregation cannot  consistently  find  fault  with  the 
Salvationist  from  this  point  of  view.  Because 
there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  as  to  which  makes  the 
nearer  approach  to  sacrilege,  the  music  and  knee 
drill  of  the  zealous  working  Christians  of  the  Sal- 
vation Army,  or  the  conduct  of  congregational 
worship  by  flippant  or  immoral  singers,  who  do 
not  profess,  it  may  be,  even  to  believe  the  sacred 
words  which,  with  a  purely  professional  motive, 
they  are  taking  upon  their  lips.  Nor  shall  we 
find  anything  in  the  Salvation  headquarters  or 
barracks  more  painfully  "grotesque"  than  the  in- 


298  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

consistency  between  creed  and  conduct,  worship 
and  service,  profession  and  practice,  in  many  a 
"respectable"  church. 

"Among  others  who  testified'' — let  us  hear  a 
thoughful  critic's  story — "was  a  girl  in  a  Salva- 
tion Army  bonnet  and  the  regulation  dress,  and  a 
stoker,  fresh  from  some  steamer  in  the  London 
docks,  whose  grimy  face  did  not  prevent  his  tak- 
ing part  in  the  service,  much  to  the  delight  of  the 
good  Canon,  who  sighed  as  he  said,  'We  could  not 
get  such  men  to  St.  Paul's.'  When  we  left,  we 
walked  back  through  the  city.  Canon  Liddon  was 
deeply  impressed.  He  was  at  first  somewhat  si- 
lent, but  after  a  time  he  said:  'It  fills  me  with 
shame.  I  feel  guilty  when  I  think  of  it  myself.' 
He  continued  musingly:  'When  I  think  of  these 
poor  people,  with  their  imperfect  grasp  of  the 
truth.  And  yet  what  contrast  between  what  they 
do  and  what  we  are  doing.'  "^^ 

Will  the  Salvation  Army  spend  its  force,  serve 
a  temporary  purpose,  and  then,  through  inherent 
limitations  and  defects,  disappear?  Will  it  de- 
generate into  the  merely  formal  and  spectacular? 
Or  wiir  it  persist,  gradually  adapting  itself  to 
new  environments  and  demands,  through  the  com- 
ing generations?  Let  those  who,  unaffected  by 
sundry  warning  examples,  are  still  ready  to  as- 
sume the  office  of  ecclesiastical  prophet,  answer 
the  question. 

"Stead,  "Life  of  Mrs.  Booth."  p.  96. 


Forward  Movement:  At  Home         299 

So  much,  then,  as  a  cursory  view  of  the  exten- 
sion of  organized  Christianity  in  its  own  neigh- 
borhoods and  at  the  present  day.  But  it  is  also  a 
typical  view.  For  the  laws  of  life  do  not  change ; 
the  constitution  of  man,  physical  and  mental,  is 
the  same  as  in  the  beginning;  and  so  likewise  is 
the  divine  constitution  of  the  Church  of  God.  In 
principle,  though  not  in  form  and  fact,  the  Church 
is  now  just  what  it  was  when  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  priest,  prophet,  administrator  of  his 
house-church,  commanded  his  family  together 
with  himself  to  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord;  and 
the  impulse  of  expansion,  movement,  progress,  is 
an  essential  element  of  its  life.  It  was  constituted 
for  advance,  not  for  marking  time ;  for  conquest, 
not  for  holding  its  own.  It  must  keep  moving  on 
or  shrivel  and  sicken  where  it  stands.  "The  army 
that  remains  in  the  trenches  is  defeated  already." 

Let  us,  therefore,  as  we  turn  this  leaf,  look 
backward  toward  that  early  and  formative  age, 
taking  ancient  Jerusalem  instead  of  modern  Lon- 
don as  our  view  point,  and  mark  the  Forward 
Movement  of  the  Church  in  the  Christian  cen- 
turies. 


Y 

THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  FORWAKD  MOVE- 
MENT : ABEOAD 

The  Cluirch  of  Israel,  it  must  be  acknowledged, 
Avas  no  missionary  society.  Its  economy  was  that 
of  education  and  defense.  True,  the  door  stood 
open  and  whatever  Gentile  might  wish  to  enter 
M'as  welcomed.  Let  liim  submit  to  the  ordinances 
and  be  numbered  witli  the  household  of  faith.  Its 
most  sacred  ])rivileges  were  freely  granted  him, 
as  if  ho  too  were  a  child  of  Abraham.  But  no 
outsider  need  expect  to  be  sought  for  and  urged  to 
apply  for  admission. 

I 

Israel  was  a  child,  God's  son,  and,  though  way- 
ward, loved  unto  the  end.^  He  must  be  taught 
the  name  of  Jehovah,  but  might  not  be  charged 
with  an  apostolic  mission  or  permitted  to  mingle 
freely  with  idolatrous  peoples.  The  danger  of  the 
corruption  of  his  own  faith  was  too  great.  Said 
the  unwilling  prophet  of  Moab  in  his  parable, 

Lo,  it  is  a  people  that  dwell  alone, 

And  shall  not  be  reckoned  among  the  nations.' 

'Hosea  xi.      =Xum.  xxiii.  9. 
(300) 


Forward  Movement:  Abroad  301 

Was  ever  a  priest  appointed  to  build  an  altar  in 
heathendom?  Even  the  prophets  with  their  far- 
reaching  vision  were  raised  up  for  the  home  field. 
There  was  no  other.  The  Lord  of  the  prophets 
himself  was  heard  to  say,  "I  was  not  sent  but  unto 
the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel." 

Palestine,  a  little  land,  yet  a  miniature  of  the 
world,  with  the  wide  desert  on  the  south  and  east, 
the  trackless  ocean  toward  the  setting  sun,  and 
no  great  nation  on  the  north,  was  the  suitable  place 
of  training  for  the  elect  people.  There,  sepa- 
rated from  the  powerful  idolatries  not  only  of  the 
West  but  also  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Chaldea 
(though  claimed  as  a  subject  people  by  all  three 
of  these  pagan  nations),  they  might  receive  the 
revelation  of  God  as  Jehovah,  the  Eternal,  the 
Almighty,  the  Holy,  who  would  yet  make  himself 
known  through  them  to  the  farthest  continents 
and  isles  of  the  sea.  "I  Jehovah  have  called  thee 
in  righteousness,  and  will  .  .  .  give  thee 
.    .    .    for  a  light  of  the  Gentiles.''^ 

But  here  at  least  was  a  significant  and  fruitful 
truth, — Israel  the  light  of  the  nations.  Once  in- 
troduced into  the  thought  and  grasped  by  the  faith 
of  the  Church,  it  must  have  a  momentous  history. 
In  it  lay  the  potent  germ  of  all  evangelism.  Is- 
rael must  hear  it  so  as  to  know  it,  and  know  it  so 
as  to  tell  it  to  all  the  world.  It  is  not  a  truth  for 
any  people,  nor  for  any  single  soul,  to  receive  and 

"Isa.  xlii.  6. 


302  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

keep  silent.  So,  the  prophets  even  of  the  pre- 
Christian  time  were  ready  to  cry,  "Who  would  not 
fear  thee,  0  King  of  the  nations  ?"*  One  of  them. 
indeed,  "the  first  apostle  to  the  Gentiles"  (though, 
in  his  angry  impatience  at  Jehovah's  compassion, 
"not  worthy  to  he  called  an  apostle"),  was  sent  to 
Assyria,  that  he  might  hring  its  wicked  capital  city 
to  repentance.^ 

Moreover,  when,  from  the  time  of  the  Captivity 
onward,  the  people,  having  been  cured  at  last  of 
their  idolatries,  were  caused  to  move  to  and  fro 
among  the  nations,®  they  carried  with  them  the 
monotheistic  faith,  the  oracles  of  God,  and  the 
lofty  sustaining  hope  of  Messiah's  kingdom. 
Though  for  the  most  part  legalistic  and  unloving, 
they  were  a  kind  of  missionaries,  apart  from  their 
own  choice,  to  testify  in  the  presence  of  age-long 
paganism  that  God  is  one  and  that  he  is  the  right- 
eous Judge  of  the  whole  earth.  Thus  were  they 
able  to  influence  earnest  minds  dissatisfied  with 
polytheism  and  empt}^  philosophies  to  acknowl- 
edge the  true  and  living  God.  The  prophecy  was 
fulfilled :  "Ten  men  shall  take  hold,  out  of  all  the 
languages  of  the  nations,  shall  even  take  hold  of 
the  skirt  of  him  that  is  a  Jew,  saying,  We  will  go 
with  you,  for  we  have  heard  that  God  is  with  you.'"^ 
So  the  way  was  preparing  for  the  Christian  evan- 
gel when  it  should  be  published. 

*Jer.  X.  7.         "Jonah  iv.         ^Amos  ix,  9. 

'Zech.  viii.  23.  ,         ■ 


Forward  Moverrient:  Abroad  303 

II 

At  the  cross  of  Jesus,  and  under  the  baptismal 
fires  of  Pentecost,  the  Church  found  itself  in  a 
very  different  attitude  toward  the  peoples  of  the 
world.  It  became,  in  spirit  and  form,  in  doctrine 
and  administration,  distinctly  aggressive.  No 
longer  safeguarded  by  geographical  boundaries  and 
nationl  religious  rites  from  the  contamination  of 
false  religions,  it  went  everywhere.  The  word  was 
no  longer,  Let  the  people  come  to  us  and  receive 
the  law  of  Jehovah,  if  they  will.  It  was  now,  We 
will  go  forth  to  them,  at  all  hazards,  and  tell  the 
constraining  story  of  the  cross.  Thus  was  the  pro- 
phetic vision  of  the  wide  world's  enlightenment 
through  Israel  becoming  true  in  the  Fulfiller  of 
the  law  and  the  prophets.  The  mystery  of  Christ, 
"that  the  Gentiles  are  fellow-heirs,  and  fellow- 
members  of  the  body,"  which  in  former  generations 
had  been  but  foreshadowed,  was  now  to  be  every- 
where proclaimed. 

Is  it  not  a  memorable  fact  that  our  Lord,  while 
instituting  so  little,  prescribing  no  ecclesiastical 
polity,  yet,  so  far  as  he  gave  outward  form  to  his 
Church  at  all,  did  make  it  a  missionary  organiza- 
tion? The  only  company  of  men  whom  he  per- 
sonally taught  and  trained,  and  commissioned  as 
his  chief  witness-bearers  in  the  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation, were  explicitly  instructed  by  him  to  go 
and  preach  to  "the  whole  creation."  He  called 
them  to  him  that  he  might  in  due  time  send  them 


304  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

forth  from  him,  yet  abiding  with  them  forever- 
more.'*  Also,  the  two  sacramental  rites  that  he  in- 
stituted were  given,  one  in  commemoration  of  his 
blood  of  the  Xew  Covenant  shed  "for  many  unto 
remission  of  sins,"  and  the  other  in  direct  connec- 
tion with  the  Great  Commission,  as  a  sign  of  the 
new  birth  of  the  soul  and  the  mode  of  entrance 
into  the  visible  communion  of  Christian  believers. 
The  Lord's  Supper  and  baptism  are  missionary 
symbols. 

Moreover,  when  another  chief  witness  was 
needed,  the  particular  office  that  he  must  fill  was 
not  a  local  pastorate,  nor  a  national  apostleship. 
On  the  contrary,  he  was  to  go  farther  than  all  the 
apostles  that  were  before  him  into  the  regions  be- 
yond— the  missionary  to  the  nations. 

Christianity  is  both  a  revelation  and  a  re- 
demption— the  disclosure  of  the  fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  deliverance  of  a  sin-oppressed  world, 
in  Jesus  Christ.  We  might  imagine  this  revela- 
tion and  this  redemption  to  have  been  given  in 
sight  of  all  mankind ;  but  such  was  not  the  Divine 
method.  They  were  given  in  the  presence  of 
chosen  witnesses ;  and  upon  these  witnesses  and 
their  successors  in  the  faith  was  laid  the  responsi- 
bility of  declaring  them  to  the  world.  They  must 
be  universally  published ;  for  whatever  men  may 
know  without  the  gospel,  they  cannot  know  that  in 
Jesus  Christ  the  Redeemer  they  may  enter  the 

*Mark  iii.  14;  Matt,  xxviii.  20. 


Forward  Movement:  Ahvad  305 

life  of  sonship  to  God.  But  all  men,  whether  sav- 
age or  civilized,  whether  a  tribe  of  cannibals  or 
a  world  power,  whether  Hottentots  or  Japanese, 
need  to  know,  and  are  entitled  to  know,  these  su- 
preme truths  of  Christ  in  the  human  race. 

Therefore  the  attitude  of  the  Church,  its  con- 
stitution, its  very  organic  law,  by  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  upon  it  from  the  beginning,  is  that  of  mis- 
sionary evangelism  at  home  and  abroad.  One 
word  of  Jesus  suggests  it  all — the  word  "apos- 
tles" {missionaries,  sent  ones).  So,  when  a  con- 
gregation repeats  in  concert,  in  the  language  of  the 
Nicene  Creed,  the  title  "one  Catholic  and  Apos- 
tolic Church,"  in  what  is  it  professing  faith  so 
much  as  in  the  essentially  missionary  character  of 
the  Church  of  Christ?  This  character  only  can 
make  any  particular  congregation,  or  church,  or 
ministry,  or  man,  apostolic. 

Could  it  have  been  intended  that  the  forward 
movement  of  the  Church  should  cease  when  the 
last  of  the  apostles  entered  into  rest?  It  did  not 
cease,  but  went  on  steadily  till,  by  the  beginning 
of  the  fourth  century,  Christianity  had  penetrated 
every  province  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

Soon  thereafter  it  was  legalized  and  thoroughly 
nationalized. 

Ill 

But  a  national  Church,  while  favorable,  in  its 
organization,  to  the  extension  of  an  accepted  faith, 
or  at  least  of  its  profession,  within  the  territory  of 
20 


306  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

the  nation  itself,  is  not  as  such  favorable  to  foreign 
evangelization.^  One  is  prepared  to  find,  there- 
fore, that  under  the  Emperor  Constantine  and  his 
successors  paganism  was  overthrown  by  a  combina- 
tion of  Christian  teaching  and  legal  enactments, 
throughout  the  empire,  but  also  that  the  apos- 
tolic spirit  of  unlimited  love  and  enterprise  was 
lacking.  Why  should  not  India  have  been  evan- 
gelized P^" 

The  Church,  organizing  her  forces  in  their  ac- 
cumulated strength,  and  with  the  Christly  3'earn- 
ing  that  all  men  may  be  saved  and  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  is  what  we  do  not  see. 

It  is  true  that  under  Charles  the  Great  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire  did  stretch  forth  its  hand  for  the 
conversion  of  many  heathen  people.     But  it  was 

'Compare  the  colonial  missions  of  the  National 
Protestant  Churches  with  the  world-wide  Roman 
propaganda. 

'"Indeed,  the  imperialized  Church  showed  no  great 
zeal  for  the  conversion  of  the  pagans  within  the  em- 
pire itself.  "The  bishops  of  the  chief  cities  of  the 
provinces  of  the  West  were  mainly  Roman,  sur- 
rounded by  a  Roman  clergy,  and,  though  they  were 
not  without  a  missionary  element,  they  ministered 
mainly  to  the  wants  of  the  Roman  population.  Out- 
side the  centers  of  that  population,  they  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  existed.  Here  and  there,  on  the  large 
estates  of  Roman  owners,  there  was  a  chapel  for 
Christian  service;  but  the  mass  of  the  Celtic  peasant- 
ry was  unconverted."  (Hatch,  "Growth  of  Church 
Institutions,"  pp.  9,  10.) 


Forward  Movement:  Abroad  307 

conversion  by  the  sword.  The  idolaters  were 
crushed,  at  one  and  the  same  blow,  into  submission 
to  the  emperor  and  to  the  priest,  the  State  and 
the  State  Church.  In  the  case  of  the  Saxons,  for 
example,  the  death  penalty  was  attached  to  the 
crime  of  practicing  the  religious  rites  they  had  re- 
ceived from  their  forefathers.  It  was  a  spiritual 
tyranny  unworthy  even  of  the  False  Prophet,  the 
Dark  Ages  its  only  apology." 

To  say  that  the  after  effects  were  beneficial  will 
excuse  it  to  those  only  who  hold  that  men  may  do 
evil,  if  they  will,  for  the  sake  of  a  hoped-for  good. 
It  is  another  "far-flung  battle  line"  than  that 
which  bathes  its  glittering  steel  in  the  blood  of  a 
weaker  race  of  brother  men,  in  which  the  Divine 
Love  has  aligned  his  forces  for  the  conquest  of  the 
world. 

We  shall  have  to  look  otherwhere  than  to  Chris- 

"Worthy  of  note,  in  contrast  with  this  policy  of 
the  "pious  and  peace-giving  Emperor,"  and  as  show- 
ing the  more  Christian  way  of  Christianizing,  was 
the  conduct  of  the  newly  converted  English  King 
Ethelbert  two  hundred  years  before:  "Of  their  belief 
and  conversion  [it]  is  said  that  the  king  was  so 
evenly  glad  that  he,  however,  forced  none  to  the 
Christian  manner  [of  worship],  but  that  those  who 
turned  to  belief  and  baptism  he  more  inwardly  loved, 
as  they  were  fellow-citizens  of  the  heavenly  kingdom. 
For  he  had  learned  from  his  teachers  and  from  the 
authors  of  his  health  that  Christ's  service  should  be 
of  good  will,  not  of  compulsion."  (Bseda,  "Ecclesias- 
tical History  of  England,"  XXVI.  3.) 


308  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

tian  princes  and  their  ecclesiasticism  for  the  mis- 
sionar}^  polic}^  of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  will  be 
found  in  two  of  the  three  main  forces  of  mediaeval 
Christianity — in  the  papacy  and  monasticism. 

The  explanation  is  easy  enough.  The  papacy 
knew  nothing  of  national  or  racial  limitations.  It 
claimed  universal  jurisdiction:  the  world  was  its 
diocese.  Therefore  not  some  one  empire  only,  not 
the  whole  of  Christendom  only,  but  infidel  and 
heathen  regions,  the  whole  world,  must  be  subdued 
to  the  obedience  of  the  Roman  faith.  As  for  the 
monastery,  it  likewise  was  non-national  and  non- 
racial — in  idea,  simply  and  purely  religious.  The 
monk  was  without  patriotism.  Xor  was  he  a  cos- 
mopolitan. His  country  was  beyond  the  sky.  So, 
when  the  monastery  had  reached  its  advanced 
stage,  and  become  not  a  mere  religious  retreat  or 
idle  imprisonment  from  the  world,  but  largely  a 
school  of  preparation  for  work  in  the  world,  its 
messengers  went  in  various  directions  afar.  To 
strengthen  the  hand  of  any  secular  government 
was  not  their  object.  Geographical  boundaries 
were  left  out  of  their  plans.  They  would  win 
men  of  any  race  or  clime  to  the  acknowledgment 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord — and,  in  many  instances, 
of  the  pope  as  his  vicar  on  earth. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  the  sixth  century  that 
this  period  of  missionary  activity  began.  The 
Benedictine  order,  whose  most  powerful  repre- 
sentative was  Pope  Gregory  the  Great — "Gregory 


Forward  Movement:  Abroad  309 

the  holy  man,  who  was  in  lore  and  deed  the  high- 
est," as  Baeda  describes  him — took  a  leading  part 
in  the  movement.  But  we  can  do  no  more  in  this 
rapid  sketch  than  recall  some  of  the  chief  names. 
Columba,  missionary  founder  of  the  Abbey  of  lona 
(or  Icolumkill,  "the  island  of  Columba  of  the 
churches"),  may  represent  the  independent  mis- 
sionary work  of  the  monasteries.  Augustine 
preaching  his  sermon  through  an  interpreter  to 
Ethelbert  the  English  king,  or  leading  his  grave 
procession  of  twoscore  monks. 

Chanting  in  barbarous  ears  a  tuneful  prayer, 

and  bearing  the  uplifted  cross,  into  the  town  of 
Canterbury  (in  596)  ;  Boniface  in  Germany  (719- 
755);  Anskar,  "Apostle  of  the  North,"  in  Den- 
mark and  Sweden  (826-865) — all  of  them  monks 
in  the  immediate  service  of  the  pope — may  exem- 
plify the  union  of  papacy  and  monastery  in  Chris- 
tian missions. 

But  the  aggressive  idea  of  the  monastery  found 
its  most  distinct  expression  in  the  Mendicant  or- 
ders. It  may  be  seen  in  its  purest  embodiment  in 
the  Franciscans  of  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Here  was  an  organization  of  itinerant 
evangelists  traversing  Christendom,  under  the  di- 
rection of  their  chief,  ministering  to  the  ignorant 
and  the  wretched,  to  Christian  and  unbeliever. 
Francis,  the  gentle  and  good,  their  founder  and, 
notwithstanding  his  illiteracy  and  fanaticism,  their 


310  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

best  representative,  made  bold  to  preach  even  be- 
fore the  Sultan  of  Egj^pt — though  with  no  en- 
couraging result.  Thus  did  monasticism,  begin- 
ning as  organized  asceticism,  develop  into  a  form 
of  organized  service. 

Only  deplorable  are  the  doctrinal  and  moral 
corruptions,  the  worm  at  the  heart  of  the  rose,  in 
the  extension  of  the  Mediteval  Church.  It  was  to 
a  paganized  form  of  Christianity  that  the  con- 
verts were  gained.  The  minister  had  long  since 
been  lured  into  playing  the  magician.  Incredible 
hardships  were  accepted,  uttermost  self-sacrifice 
endured,  untimely  death  welcomed,  in  behalf  of  a 
leader,  a  cause,  a  sentiment,  wherein  was  mingled 
much  of  the  false  and  unworthy ;  for  it  is  by  no 
means  pure  Christianity  alone  that  has  its  mar- 
tyrs and  its  heroes.  But  such  things  shall  not 
blind  our  eyes  to  the  genuine  Christian  love  and 
devotion  of  many  missioners  in  these  hazardous 
church-extension  movements.  They  bore  the  Cross 
with  bleeding  hands,  and  followed  it,  groping,  in 
their  hearts. 

How  often  is  the  real  faith  by  which  a  man 
lives,  and  out  of  which  all  the  mart}Tologies  are 
written,  misrejaresented  by  his  ritiuil  or  his  creed ! 
Here  were  half-enlightened  men  who  had  looked 
upon  the  face  of  the  suffering  and  conquering 
Christ,  whom  whosoever  shall  really  behold  in 
faith  and  love  is  henceforth  no  longer  his  own  but 
the  servant  of  humanitv  in  his  name.     Xor  mav 


I 


Forxcdvd  Movement:  Ahroad  311 

we  depreciate  the  illustration  afforded,  in  a  dark 
and  turbulent  age,  of  the  Church  as  a  missionary 
organization. 

IV 

It  would  seem  that  the  best  possible  work  for 
foreign  missions  at  this  time  would  have  been  a 
radical  reformation  of  Christendom.  Displacing 
error  with  truth,  such  a  revival  must  clothe  mes- 
sage and  messenger  with  a  new  spiritual  power. 
To  make  the  plant  good  is  to  spread  and  perpet- 
uate the  good,  wherever  the  seed  is  scattered  or  the 
fruit  eaten.  For  if  the  world  is  indeed  one,  and 
the  true  work  of  the  Church  one  and  the  same 
work  everywhere,  incalculably  effective  upon  other 
nations  would  be  the  effect  of  any  moral  and  reli- 
gious reform — say,  that  of  temperance — thorough- 
ly accomplished  in  the  Christian  nations.  Health 
as  well  as  disease  is  contagious :  reformation  is 
extension. 

Nevertheless  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  Eeforma- 
tion  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  immediately  pro- 
motive of  the  missionary  cause.  Its  two  chief 
leaders,  Luther  and  Calvin,  did  not  have  it  upon 
their  hearts  to  convert  the  heathen  peoples.  Lu- 
ther, in  fact,  was  under  the  impression  that  the 
world  M'as  about  at  its  end.  The  hour  would  soon 
strike:  no  new  lands  were  to  be  Christianized;  at 
the  very  climax  of  their  iniquity,  now  rapidly  ap- 
proaching, mankind  would  be  condemned,  and  the 
elect  few  saved.     Now  this  belief,  while  entirely 


312  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

consistent  with  tlie  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  its 
power,  here  and  there,  as  the  way  might  be  provi- 
dentially opened,  could  yield  no  inspiration  to  any 
such  universal  undertaking  as  the  missionary 
movement  of  our  own  time. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  also,  that  the  preva- 
lent theology  of  the  divine  sovereignty  in  human 
salvation  Avas  unfavorable,  so  far  as  its  logical  con- 
sequences were  recognized,  to  the  missionary  en- 
terprise. 

With  humiliation  and  pain  let  it  be  added  that 
the  religious  wars  in  France,  Germany,  the  Neth- 
erlands, and  Great  Britain,  and  the  virulent  theo- 
logical controversies  of  Protestantism,  chilled  and 
depraved  the  heart  of  Christian  love. 

Accordingly  the  lack  of  a  missionary  spirit 
could  hardly  fail  to  become  apparent  in  the  polity 
of  the  early  Protestant  Churches.  They  were  not 
in  any  serious  sense  organizations  for  the  univer- 
sal spread  of  the  gospel,  but  national  establish- 
ments for  the  religious  upbuilding  of  their  re- 
spective countries.^-     Two  hundred  years  or  more 

"For  instance,  one  would  doubtless  have  to  look 
a  long  time  through  the  Calvinian  literature  of  that 
age  in  order  to  find  such  a  description  of  the  Church 
as  would  be  held  as  a  commonplace  by  the  followers 
of  Calvin  to-day — to  find  it  described  as  "a  divinely 
appointed  missionary  organization,  complete  in  all  its 
parts,  for  concentrating  the  strength  of  the  people  on 
the  work  of  evangelizing  the  world."  (Stuart  Robin- 
son, "The  Church  of  God"  (1858),  pp.  119,  120.) 


Forward  Movement:  Abroad  313 

must  pass  before  there  shall  be  formed  within 
these  churches  missionary  societies  with  the  sal- 
vation of  the  distant  places  of  the  earth  as  their 
object,  and  before  the  Church  as  a  whole  shall  come 
to  realize  that  itself,  in  the  divine  idea,  is  a  mis- 
sionary society  and  must  be  so  orsanized.^' 


The  Protestant  pioneers  in  missions  were  a  peo- 
ple never  large  in  numbers,  nor  of  much  account 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  but  from  the  beginning 
till  now  an  out-and-out  missionary  brotherhood 
— namely,  the  Unity  of  the  Brethren.  Not  only 
in  spirit,  in  history,  and  in  ritual,  but  distinctly 
in  polity,  is  the  Moravian  Church  a  missionary  or- 
ganization. While  as  yet  it  numbered  only  six 
hundred  members,  ten  years  after  the  settlement 
at  Herrnhut,  it  sent  out  its  first  missionaries. 
And  from  that  time  to  the  present  the  goodly  suc- 
cession has  been  kept  up,  not  through  missionary 

""This  command  [Mark  xvi.  15],  corroborated  by 
others  of  equivalent  import,  and  enforced  by  the  very 
nature  of  the  Christian  doctrine,  and  by  the  spirit  of 
Christian  charity,  is  now  understood  and  acknowl- 
edged, in  a  manner  altogether  new  to  the  Church,  to 
be  of  universal  obligation;  so  that  no  Christian,  how 
obscure  soever  may  be  his  station,  or  small  his  tal- 
ents, or  limited  his  means,  can  be  held  to  stand  alto- 
gether excused  from  the  duty  of  fulfilling  in  some 
way  the  last  mandate  of  his  Lord."  (Isaac  Taylor, 
"Natural  History  of  Enthusiasm"  (1849),  p.  250.) 


314  The  Idea  of  the  Ch  urch 

societies  but  directl}^  by  the  Church  as  such.  Ac- 
cording to  the  statistics  of  a  few  years  ago,  there 
was  one  Moravian  missionary  to  every  sixty  mem- 
bers of  the  home  Church.^* 

On  the  first  day  of  August,  1738,  a  presbyter  of 
the  Church  of  England  appeared  in  Herrnhut,  as 
a  student  of  the  Moravian  teaching  and  discipline. 
A  thoughtful  seeker  of  the  truth,  he  came  to  learn 
of  men  whose  scholarship  and  culture  were  not 
comparable  to  his  own.  Nor  was  this  his  first 
acquaintance  with  the  Moravian  brethren.  Two 
years  before,  on  his  way  to  the  English  colony  of 
Georgia,  as  a  missionary  in  the  service  of  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  he  had  enjoyed  fellowship  with  them,  and 
had  been  deeply  impressed  with  their  serene  and 
joyful  behavior  during  a  storm  at  sea.  Soon  after 
returning  to  England  he  was  helped  by  one  of  this 
same  fervent  brotherhood,  Peter  Bohler,  to  find 
the  way  of  conscious  salvation  through  faith  only. 
And  now  John  Wesley  has  come  for  a  two  weeks' 
visit  to  their  mother  Church,  that  he  may  learn 
something  more  from  the  people  to  whom  he  al- 
ready feels  so  deeply  indebted. 

After  a  brief  period  of  cooperation  with  the  Mo- 
ravians, Wesley  found  scope  for  his  own  Chris- 
tian teaching  and  unique  organizing  genius  in 
the  formation  of  the  United  Societies.  These  he 
made,  both  in  spirit  and  polity,  a  missionary  organ- 

""Morevian  Manual,"  p.  53. 


Forvmrd  Movement:  Abroad  315 

ization ;  first  for  the  work  all  about  them  a  I  home, 
and  afterwards,  in  addition,  for  the  foreign  field. 

It  was  not  long  before  this  forward  movement 
touched  the  shores  of  America.  Through  local 
and  itinerant  preachers,  and  other  Christian  wit- 
nesses, men  and  women,  societies  were  gathered  in 
the  West  Indies,  the  American  Colonies,  Nova 
Scotia,  Newfoundland;  and  there  was  developed 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  whose  first  bish- 
op, after  thirty  years  of  evangelistic  labors  on  four 
continents,  died  at  sea  while  making  a  missionary 
voyage  to  Ceylon. 

But  it  is  a  larger  course  of  development  that  we 
must  here  take  note  of.  The  labors  of  Wesley  and 
Whitefield,  with  their  coadjutors,  resulted  in  the 
Evangelical  Revival  of  the  Eighteenth  Century; 
and  it  was  under  the  influence  of  this  revival  that 
the  great  missionary  organizing  of  the  Church 
began  which  made  the  nineteenth  century  dis- 
tinctively the  century  of  missions.^^ 

^^"The  Wesleyans  took  from  the  Brethren  many 
points  in  their  system — the  watch  night,  the  love 
feasts,  fhe  idea  that  the  whole  Church  is  a  mission- 
ary society"     (Ker,  "History  of  Preaching,"  p.  237.) 

"It  was  with  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  of  faith  in 
England,  at  the  close  of  the  century,  that  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  begot- 
ten. .  .  .  The  great  religious  revival,  starting 
with  the  labors  of  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield,  gave 
the  impulse  to  recent  modern  missions."  (Schaff- 
Herzog,  "Encyclopedia,"  Art.  Missions.) 


316  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

This  hundred  years'  work  has  been  done  in  part 
by  missionary  societies  under  the  patronage  of  par- 
ticular churches,  and  in  part  by  the  churches 
themselves  directly,  through  the  adoption  of  a 
missionary  polity.  American  Congregationalism, 
for  example,  conducts  its  missionary  operations 
through  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions,  and  through  similar  agen- 
cies. In  Episcopal  Methodism,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Church  itself  has  become  a  missionary  body, 
every  one  of  whose  congregations  must  contribute 
annual^  to  the  extension  of  its  work  in  foreign 
fields,  and  every  one  of  whose  pastors,  presiding 
elders,  and  bishops  is  charged  with  a  duty  in  this 
department  of  church  life  as  strongly  and  dis- 
tinctly as  in  any  other.  A  similar  distinction  ex- 
ists between  the  national  churches — the  Church 
of  Scotland  carrying  on  its  foreign  missions  direct- 
ly, as  a  part  of  its  purpose  and  policy,  while  the 
other  national  establishments  are  not  thus  organ- 
ized. In  both  cases  the  essential  principle  is  the 
same ;  but  in  one  case  it  becomes  a  recognized 
element  in  the  whole  ecclesiastical  life  and  polity. 
That  missionary  method  should  thus  be  wrought 
into  the  very  structure  of  a  church,  even  as  the 
missionary  principle  is  inwrought  in  the  very 
structure  of  Christianity  itself,  would  seem  to  be 
in  complete  harmony  with  the  organic  word  of 
Christ  on  the  Mount  of  Ascension. 

The  first  great  event  of  this  centurv  of  missions 


Forward  Movement:  Abroad  317 

was  the  formation,  largely  through  the  influence 
of  William  Carey,  in  the  year  1792,  of  the  Baptist 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  Amongst 
the  Heathen.  One  of  the  last  noteworthy  events 
of  the  century  was  the  signing  of  a  declaration — 
"I  am  willing  and  desirous,  God  willing,  to  he- 
come  a  foreign  missionary" — by  a  hundred  young 
men,  in  the  3'ear  1886,  at  Mount  Hermon,  Mass.; 
for  this  act  was  the  inception  of  a  movement  in 
connection  with  which  some  three  thousand  young 
men  and  women  have  already  set  sail  from  Amer- 
ica for  the  foreign  field — the  Student  Volunteer 
Movement  for  Foreign  Missions.^^ 

As  the  churches  have  by  this  time  very  well 
learned,  through  experience,  this  undertaking  calls 
for  broad  and  thorough  organization.  It  is  a  vast 
and  varied  work.  Evangelistic  it  must  ever  be, 
else  it  ceases  to  be  truly  Christian.  But  the  gos- 
pel has  many  worthy  allies.  It  will  inspire,  direct, 
and  utilize  much  educational  work,  much  minis- 
tration to  disease  in  the  hospital  and  the  dispen- 
sary, much  publication  of  Holy  Scripture  and  of 
Christian  literature,  much  industrial  and  social 
betterment.  It  had  such  allies  at  the  beginning  of 
its  history,  in  the  days  of  Jesus  and  the  apostles : 
shall  it  not  be  accompanied  by  them,  in  ever-vary- 
mg  forms,  unto  the  end  ?  It  will  both  civilize  and 
save.     It  will  civilize  that,  as  the  supreme  object, 

""The  First  Two  Decades  of  the  Student  Volunteer 
Movement,"  Report  of  Executive  Committee,  1906. 


318  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

it  may  save.  It  will  send  Livingstone  to  explore 
Central  Africa,  Duff  to  establish  a  school  system 
in  India,  Mackenzie  to  teach  and  practice  the  art 
of  medicine  in  China.  All  the  while  it  will  offer 
the  one  Bread  of  Life,  the  only  Lord  and  Saviour, 
to  every  people  and  to  every  soul. 

There  is  need  of  patience  and  of  unwearied  self- 
giving;  many  adversaries  still  stand  about  the 
open  doors;  many  questions  still  await  their  an- 
swers :  but  the  word  of  the  Lord  is  from  everlast- 
ing and  will  not  be  falsified.  We  do  well  to  be- 
lieve that  as  the  swift-footed  decades  of  the  twen- 
tieth century  fulfill  their  course  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  evangelical  missionaries  and  native  help- 
ers of  its  first  decade  may  be  increased  to  hundreds 
of  tliousands,  and  its  million  and  a  half  Christian 
commimicants  bo  more  than  proportionately  multi- 
plied. Xor  shall  we  dismiss  as  a  mere  air-built 
dream  of  youth  the  ideal  and  watchword  of  the 
Student  Volunteers — "The  evangelization  of  the 
world  in  this  generation."' 

And  now,  recurring  to  those  aspects  of  our 
subject  with  which  this  whole  course  of  study  be- 
gan, let  us  linger  another  moment  on  the  question. 
What  are  the  marks  of  the  church  of  Christ  ?  It 
might  be  answered :  A  "congregation  of  saints," 
"the  gospel  rightly  preached,"  the  profession  of 
"the  true  religion,"  "the  pure  word  of  God 
preached,"  "a  godly  discipline  exercised,"  "the 
sacraments  dulv  administered."     And  these  defi- 


^Forward  Movement:  Abroad  319 

nitions  of  the  several  revered  historic  symbols 
from  which  they  have  been  quoted  are  true  and 
good.  But  like  many  another  credal  definition, 
they  were  framed  with  more  or  less  of  a  controver- 
sial purpose.  Nor  did  they  originate  in  a  mission- 
ary age.  Certainly  if  taken  for  descriptions  as 
well  as  definitions,  their  inadequacy  is  manifest.^^ 
To  faith  and  preaching  and  sacraments  and  disci- 
pline must  be  added  world-wide  service.  Some- 
thing as  to  creed,  something  as  to  ordinances, 
something  as  to  spiritual  life,  these  are  indeed  the 
marks  of  a  church  of  Christ,  making  it  recog- 
nizable as  such.  But  something  more.  In  the 
creed,  in  the  ordinances,  in  the  spiritual  life,  each 

""To  this  hour  the  accepted  Congregational  defini- 
tions of  a  particular  visible  Church  of  Christ  are  lam- 
entably deficient  in  clear  recognition  of  that  very 
end  for  which  Christ  called  all  the  Churches  into 
being,  and  gave  them  the  law  of  their  life."  (Ladd, 
"Principles  of  Church  Polity,"  p.  360.)  The  asser- 
tion would  be  hardly  less  true  with  the  word  Congre- 
gational stricken  out. 

A  recent  definition,  including  as  it  does  the  law  of 
love  as  the  rule  of  Christians'  lives,  more  nearly  ap- 
proaches the  missionary  idea:  "The  Church  of  God 
is  the  universal  society  of  believers  in  Jesus  Christ, 
scattered  throughout  the  world,  who  are  nevertheless 
one  in  him  because  they  acknowledge  him  as  their 
only  Head,  because  his  Spirit  dwells  in  them,  and  be- 
cause they  acknowledge  the  law  of  love  contained  in 
his  gospel  as  the  rule  of  their  lives."  ("Catechism 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches.") 


320  Tiie  Idea  of  the  Cliiirch 

and  all,  there  is  a  momentous  implication — the  im- 
plication of  an  unceasing  evangelic  ministry  to 
men.  The  New  Testament  doctrine  is  that  of  a 
believing,  worshiping,  disciplined,  and  sent-forth 
Church. 

The  knowledge  of  what  anything  is  may  be  ex- 
pected to  show  what  it  is  for.  To  know  the 
Church  of  Christ  is  to  know  that  the  end  for 
which  its  foundations  were  laid  by  the  Master 
Builder's  hand,  an  end  ever  to  be  kept  in  view  by 
the  whole  company  of  its  builders,  is  the  realiza- 
tion of  God's  kingdom  on  earth. 


VI 

CONSUMMATION":  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 
REALIZED 

To  a  contemplative  mind  looking  out  upon  the 
world  as  it  is,  the  shadow  oftentimes  lies  deeper 
than  the  sunshine.  It  is  not  the  sufferings  of  ir- 
rational creatures,  the  whole  world  groaning  and 
travailing  together  in  pain  until  now :  though  this 
must  be  felt  as  one  of'  the  painfully  oppressive 
problems.  It  is  not  the  poverty  and  ignorance,  the 
privations,  the  manifold  weaknesses  and  inevitable 
griefs  of  men:  though  this  may  well  make  every 
friend  of  his  race  sick  at  heart.  It  is  the  deadly 
shadow  of  sin.  It  is  ingrained  and  universal  mor- 
al evil.  If  people  would  always  do  the  right  and 
live  together  in  love  and  kindness,  all  problems 
might  be  hopefully  studied,  all  evils  hopefully  en- 
dured. But  men  have  always  and  everywhere  cor- 
rupted their  way  on  the  earth.  The  greed,  op- 
pression, fraud,  sensuality,  crime,  social  impurity, 
inhumanity,  hypocrisy,  the  groans  of  the  prisoner 
and  the  slave,  the  cruelty  to  womanhood,  the  bit- 
ter cry  of  wronged  little  children — it  is  these  per- 
sistent sins  and  these  sufferings  consequent  upon 
sin,  all  over  the  world,  that  appall  the  stoutest 
sensitive  heart.  God  mercifully  limits  the  sym- 
21  (321) 


322  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

pathetic  imagination,  forbidding  its  taking  more 
than  a  little  space  within  the  range  of  vision  at 
any  one  time ;  else  would  it  be  paralyzed  with  pain 
and  unfitted  for  any  service. 

What  shall  the  end  be  ?  The  same  monotony  of 
sin  and  suffering  through  an  endless  future?  or 
some  deeper  degeneracy  hastening  on  to  a  total 
extinction  ?  or  is  there  a  better  age  to  come  ? 

What  if  this  world  should  some  day  be  remade 
into  one  great  Commonwealth  of  God  ? 


In  one's  meditation  upon  this  question  it  may 
be  assumed  that  for  all  people  always  to  do  the 
right  and  live  together  in  love  and  kindness  is 
theoretically  quite  possible.  It  would  not  be,  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  word,  unnatural,  any  more 
than  civilization  or  art  or  literature  is  unnatural. 
It  would  indeed  be  contrary  to  the  habit  of  men's 
lives,  but  in  accordance  with  the  constitution  of 
their  nature;  for  this  natural  constitution  en- 
thrones conscience  and  love  as  the  ruling  powers. 

Moreover,  there  are  many  thousands  of  men 
and  women  that  are  actually  living  in  righteous- 
ness and  love.  It  is  their  constant  aim  not  only 
to  refrain  from  doing  harm,  but  also  positively  to 
love  and  serve  their  fellows.  The  grace  of  God  in 
Jesus  Christ  has  made  it  possible  for  them  to  live 
the  life  of  sonship  to  God  and  brotherhood  to  man. 
But  what  is  actual  in  them  is  potential  in  all.    To 


The  Kingdom  of  God  Realized        323 

suppose  their  number  increased  till  the  response 
of  the  human  heart  and  will  to  the  quickening 
touch  of  the  Divine  Spirit  becomes  a  universal 
fact,  is  at  least  not  an  impossible  conception.  It 
would  simply  be  the  realization  in  spirit  and  char- 
acter of  his  true  nature  by  universal  man.  Is  it, 
then,  too  much  to  expect  of  the  creative  purpose 
and  redeeming  grace  of  the  Father  of  spirits? 

Another  thing  which  it  would  be  well  to  remem- 
ber in  this  connection  is  that  the  world  is  a  realm 
of  law.  To  a  superficial  view,  indeed,  there  seems 
to  be  much  confusion,  endless  accidents  and  colli- 
sions, labyrinthine  mazes.  "While  they  continually 
say  unto  me.  Where  is  thy  God  ?"  But  in  fact  there 
is  nowhere  an  ungoverned  object  or  event.  Of 
the  multitudinous  occurrences  that  make  up  any 
hour  of  the  world's  history,  not  one  can  be  shown 
that  slips  the  leash  of  all-encompassing  and  im- 
mutable law. 

That  this  is  true  of  physical  events  is  nowadays 
a  commonplace.  The  clouds  move  with  as  perfect 
precision  as  the  moon  or  the  ocean  tides.  The 
comet  is  no  more  a  wanderer  than  is  the  planet. 
The  thistle  down  "caught  and  cuffed  by  the  gale," 
tossed  and  twirled  hither  and  thither,  pursues  its 
course  and  reaches  its  destination  according  to 
laws  as  ever-present  and  changeless  as  those  which 
the  earth  herself  observes  in  her  stately  march 
round  the  sun.  But  the  same  thing  is  true  of  the 
higher  sphere  of  the  soul.     In  this  sphere  is  in- 


324  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

tellectual  movement — judgment,  reasoning,  think- 
ing; but  it  can  no  more  be  done  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  thought  than  the  earth  can  make  her  revo- 
lutions, annual  or  diurnal,  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
motion. 

Here  also  is  freedom  and  the  moral  life.  Here 
vibrates  that  highest  note  of  reality  which  we  can 
know  or  have  any  conception  of — namely,  personal 
being.  Men  are  thoughtless,  but  man  thinks ;  men 
are  unloving,  but  man  loves ;  and  so  likewise  while 
men  are  weak-willed  and  passive,  man  wills.  Here 
is  a  personality,  a  self,  with  the  power  of  self-de- 
termination. 

This,  it  is  true,  opens  the  door  to  all  manner  of 
lawlessness,  but  not  to  the  overthrow  of  law.  One 
may  violate,  or  break,  a  moral  law  in  the  sense  of 
refusing  to  comply  with  its  requirements,  but  not 
in  the  sense  of  corrupting  or  fracturing  or  in 
even  an  infinitesimal  degree  disturbing  the  law 
itself.  That  remains  absolutely  inviolable  and 
eternal.  The  condemned  criminal  is  under  the 
laws  of  the  land  no  less  truly  than  is  the  most  up- 
right citizen;  the  one  in  disobedience  suffering 
its  penalties,  the  other  in  obedience  enjoying  its 
blessings.  But  much  more  is  it  impossible  for  a 
human  soul  to  escape  the  operation  of  the  moral 
law;  for  that  would  be  to  escape  the  operation  of 
the  will,  which  is  an  expression  of  the  nature,  of 
God  himself. 

Now  it  does  not  follow  from  the  mere  fact  of 


The  Kingdom  of  God  Realized         325 

the  universality  of  law,  significant  and  sublime 
though  it  be,  in  a  kingdom  of  souls,  that  perfect 
obedience  with  its  resulting  blessedness  will  be 
secured.  So  far  as  our  reason  can  discern,  there 
is  no  absolute  need-be  that  a  moral  government 
should  issue  in  a  millennium.  But  moral  govern- 
ment is  at  least  one  condition  of  a  millennium. 
The  immanence  of  God  in  the  world,  making 
known  his  righteous  and  beneficent  will,  writing 
it  in  men's  hearts,  administering  it  in  their 
daily  life,  offers  a  solid  standing  ground  from 
which  to  look  forth  into  futurity  and  listen  for 
any  voice  of  hope  and  promise  that  may  fall  upon 
the  ear.  Here,  as  well  as  in  the  way  of  personal 
salvation,  the  law  may  be  a  preparation  for  the 
gospel. 

That  "all  is  law"  does  not  make  it  less  likely 
but  more  that  "all  is  love."  Indeed,  since  accord- 
ing to  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  moral  love  is  the  one 
law  for  the  will  of  man,^  in  obedience  to  which  he 
becomes  like  his  Father  who  is  in  heaven,^  it  must 
be  the  one  law  of  God's  own  will. 


II 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  voices  of  hope  and  promise 
have  always  been  heard  by  those  who  have  ears  to 
hear  them.  They  have  come  attended  with  divine 
testimonials.     Their  record  is  in  holy  Scripture. 

'Matt.  xxii.  36-40.       =Matt.  v.  43-48. 


326  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

The  concurrent  testimon}^  of  prophets,  under  both 
the  Old  and  the  New  Covenant,  with  little  to  say 
of  a  past  Paradise,  tells  of  the  blessed  aeon  to  come. 
There  will  be  a  revealing  of  the  sons  of  God  in 
which  the  whole  creation  shall  share  f  a  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth  in  which  dwells  righteous- 
ness;* a  time  of  the  restoration  of  all  things 
"whereof  God  spake  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy 
prophets  that  have  been  ever  of  old.""' 

Above  all,  seeking  instruction  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Prophet  of  prophets,  as  to  the  supreme  object 
of  expectation  and  endeavor,  we  are  bidden  when 
we  pray  to  say:  "Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be 
done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven." 

To  him  who  receives  this  great  line  of  testimony 
as  a  revelation  of  the  Eternal  Will,  the  question  is 
closed.  God  has  spoken,  declaring  his  purpose, 
and  his  word  cannot  fail. 

But  even  a  genuine  faith  may  be  stronger  or 
weaker,  and  may  be  strengthened  by  evidential 
facts.  It  is  true  that  a  genuine  faith  is  not  con- 
stantly clamoring  for  this  kind  of  evidence.  It  is 
an  unbelieving  and  idolatrous  generation  tli^t 
seeks  after  a  sign.  Nevertheless  signs,  of  God's 
own  choosing,  are  given,  that  men  may  see  and 
believe.  Else  how  shall  we  account  for  those 
which,  in  the  freedom  of  all-powerful  love  and  the 
wisdom   of  perfect  self-restraint,   Jesus   wrought 

*Rom.  viii.  21.      *Isa.  Ixv.  17;  2  Pet.  iii.  13. 
"Acts  iii.  21. 


The  Kingdom  of  God  Realized         327 

among  men?  "This  beginning  of  his  signs  did 
Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee."^  "Believe  me,  that  I 
am  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in  me,  or  else  be- 
lieve me  for  the  very  works'  sake."^ 

Moreover,  nobody  need  stumble  at  the  thought 
of  the  universal  coming  of  the  kingdom,  because 
of  its  mystery  or  seeming  impossibility.  For  the 
whole  world  around  us  is  a  wonderland,  none  of 
whose  phenomena  could  have  been  dreamed  of 
apart  from  some  teaching  of  experience,  before  the 
event;  while  the  world  of  consciousness  within  is 
even  a  greater  marvel.  Every  life,  from  that  of 
tlie  lichen  to  that  of  the  man,  begins,  continues, 
and  ends  in  impenetrable  mystery. 

No  one  can  bury  an  ugly  bulb  in  the  muck  at  his 
feet  and  raise  up  a  lily,  or  hold  in  his  hand  a  dap- 
pled little  ^gg  from  some  nest  in  the  woods  and 
hear,  across  a  few  months'  space,  the  song  of  a 
thrush,  or  contemplate  with  any  degree  of  atten- 
tiveness  the  fact  of  human  heredity,  and  then  re- 
fuse to  believe  in  any  future  event  on  the  sole 
ground  that  present  appearances  are  against  the 
possibility  of  its  occurrence.  The  scientific  and 
philosophic  mind  will  make  no  pretense  of  know- 
ing the  possibilities  of  "nature"  or  the  purposes 
of  the  Creator,  except  as  these  have  somehow  been 
already  disclosed.  It  will  regard  many  things  as 
unbelievable,  but  nothing,  whether  it  be  history 
or  prediction,  as  too  wonderful  for  belief. 

*John  ii.  11.       'John  xiv.  11. 


32g  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

III 

But  where  shall  we  look  for  signs  which,  being 
interpreted,  confirm  faith's  expectation  of  the  uni- 
versal appearing  and  kingdom  of  Christ?  The 
earth  itself  is  offering  them.  "Speak  to  the  earth,"' 
says  the  Wise  Man  of  TJz,  "and  it  shall  teach 
thee."^  Let  us,  then,  keep  silence  for  a  space  and 
listen  to  this  inarticulate  teaching. 

How  did  the  earth  with  its  inhabitants,  as  we 
know  it,  come  to  be?  Who  could  ever  have  fore- 
seen or  predicted  it  ? 

Take  only  a  few  backward  steps.  There  was  a 
time  when  man  had  no  existence.  Not  a  city,  or 
a  house,  or  a  book,  or  a  garment,  or  any  tool  or 
implement ;  no  speech,  no  thought,  no  worship ; 
not  an  articulate  voice,  not  an  infant  of  days,  not 
a  human  being  anywhere  on  earth.  jSTow,  there- 
fore, let  any  one  consider,  what  was  there  visible 
or  invisible  at  that  time  to  justify  the  expecta- 
tion that  such  a  being  as  man,  with  his  civiliza- 
tions and  literatures  and  religions,  would  ever 
make  his  appearance  ?  Yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in 
due  time  he  did  make  his  appearance.  God 
framed  his  body  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground  and 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and 
man  stood  forth  a  living  rational  soul.  Out  of 
the  dust  the  Creator  raised  up  sons  and  daughters 
to  himself. 

Going  back  in  imagination  another  step,  the  ob- 
«Job  xii.  8. 


1%e  Kingdom  of  God  Realized        329 

server  finds  no  animal  life  on  the  earth.  Abun- 
dance of  plants,  growing  and  dying,  bearing  fruit 
each  after  its  kind,  perpetuating  their  generations ; 
but  nothing  whatever  that  can  see  or  hear  or  move 
of  its  own  will  from  place  to  place.  No  sensation. 
jNTot  a  lung  or  a  bone  or  a  nerve.  Now  who  at 
that  period  of  terrestrial  history  could  have  ex- 
pected animated  nature?  Who  could  have  fore- 
seen the  lion  seeking  his  prey,  or  the  tiger's  "fear- 
ful symmetry,"  or  "the  splendid  confidence  of  the 
eagle  in  the  air,"  or  the  spider  weaving  his  web 
and  warily  watching  for  his  prey;  or  conceived 
the  possibility  of  the  thousand  thousand  species 
of  sentient  creatures,  with  all  their  sensibilities 
and  powers,  as  they  now  throng  earth,  water,  and 
air?  But  it  came  to  pass.  When  the  chosen 
epoch  arrived,  God  said,  "Let  the  M^aters  bring 
forth  abundantly  the  moving  creature  that  hath 
life,  and  let  fowl  fly  above  the  earth  in  the  open 
firmament  of  heaven."  And  though  we  no  more 
know  Kow  than  did  they  at  the  time,  it  was  so. 

There  was  once  even  a  lifeless  earth.  A  huge 
unliving  thing,  nothing  but  rocks  and  waters :  the 
sky  black  with  clouds,  streaming  floods  of  rain, 
fierce  winds  sweeping  through  the  gloom,  volcanic 
fires  everywhere  breaking  forth.  There  was  a 
time  when  "the  earth  was  waste  and  void,  and 
darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep" — when, 
in  the  conceptions  of  science,  there  was  nothing 
but  an  inconceivably  hot  liquid  mass.     Nothing 


330  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

can  live  in  such  a  world,  and  there  is  nothing  in 
it  to  live. 

How,  then,  are  living  things  to  begin  to  be? 
Who  will  venture  to  predict  the  emergence  of  so 
utterly  new  and  strange  an  order  of  beings  ?  But 
the  breath  of  God  falls  upon  the  sterile  rocks  and 
waves,  and  lo,  they  are  overspread  with  the  mys- 
tery of  life.  Then,  separated  by  an  impassable 
gulf  from  mere  vegetable  vitality,  in  God's  good 
time  appears  the  higher  life  of  reason,  conscience, 
spirit.  Human  life-history  in  all  its  tragedy,  in 
all  its  degradation,  in  all  its  sinfulness,  in  all  its 
glory,  begins. 

Place  side  by  side  the  primeval  earth  and  the 
human  world  of  the  twentieth  century.  Out  of 
that  has  arisen  this.  Shall  it,  then,  be  thought  a 
thing  incredible  that  out  of  this  will  arise  the  su- 
premacy of  Christ  and  the  universal  kingdom  of 
God? 

IV 

Turning  away  now  from  the  teaching  of  the 
earth,  as  epitomized  in  its  own  rock  tablets  (and  on 
the  opening  pages  of  the  Scripture  revelation),  and 
speaking  to  man  alone,  we  shall  hear  from  him  no 
different  story.  The  records  of  his  past  foretell  a 
greater  future :  greater  not  only  in  wealth  and 
knowledge,  but  greater  also  in  moral  and  spiritual 
quality.  Here  as  truly  as  in  the  sub-human  realm, 
notwithstanding  man's  endowment  with  the  sol- 
emn power  of  self-disposal,  the  hand  of  God  may 


The  Kingdom  of  God  Realized,         331 

be  seen  at  work  and  the  thread  of  his  purpose  dis- 
cerned. Human  progress  is  not  a  growth  down- 
ward. The  brighter  view  is  the  truer.  Laws  and 
government  are  growing  better.  Nations  are  set- 
tling tlieir  contentions  by  international  arbitra- 
tion, as  never  before.  There  is  less  cruelty  to  the 
weak  and  the  criminal — certainly  less  than  in 
England  a  century  ago,  when  two  hundred  classes 
of  offenses  were  punishable  with  death.  There  is 
more  good  will,  more  charity  and  help,  more  of  the 
spirit  of  humanity.  There  is  more  sensitiveness  to 
physical  and  social  ills,  and  more  effort  to  relieve 
them,  than  at  any  time  in  the  past.  There  is  less 
injustice  between  nation  and  nation,  as  between 
man  and  man.  War  is  still  an  awful  fact ;  but 
less  frequent  and  less  awful  than  in  the  ages  when 
the  same  word  (Jiostis)  easily  served  for  foreigner 
and  enemy,  or  when  the  familiar  characteristic  of 
the  springtime  was  "the  return  of  the  year,  at  the 
time  when  kings  go  out  to  battle,"  or  when  the 
vce  victis  of  the  conqueror  meant  all  possible  inhu- 
man infliction  of  outrage  and  suffering  upon  the 
vanquished.  The  heritage  of  the  men  of  to-day, 
with  all  its  fearsome  evils,  is  the  goodliest,  as  it  is 
the  latest,  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  idea  of  the  kinship  of  the  human  race 
practically  proved  and  perpetuated,  is  no  longer 
incredible.  At  the  Peace  Congress  of  1849,  in 
the  city  of  Paris,  Victor  Hugo,  its  president,  in 
his  opening  address,  exclaimed :  "A  day  will  come 


332  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

when  a  cannon  ball  will  be  exhibited  in  public  mu- 
seums, just  as  an  instrument  of  torture  is  now, 
and  people  will  be  amazed  that  such  a  thing  could 
ever  have  been.  A  day  will  come  when  these  two 
immense  groups,  the  United  States  of  America 
and  the  United  States  of  Europe,  will  be  seen 
placed  in  the  presence  of  each  other,  extending 
the  hand  of  fellowship  across  the  ocean, — exchang- 
ing their  produce,  their  commerce,  their  indus- 
tries, their  arts,  their  genius, — clearing  the  earth, 
peopling  the  desert,  improving  creation  under  the 
eye  of  the  Creator,  and  uniting,  for  the  good  of  all, 
these  two  irresistible  and  infinite  powers,  the  fra- 
ternity of  men  and  the  power  of  God."  Shall  we 
maintain  that  the  half  century  of  wars  which  has 
passed  since  this  utterance  of  the  eloquent  idealist 
has  shown  him  to  be  a  mere 

Cloud-weaver  of  phantasmal  hopes  and  fears? 

Xot  without  significance  at  this  point  is  the 
rapidly  increasing  command  of  natural  power 
with  which  God  is  now  intrusting  our  race.  It 
marks  what  has  been  fitly  described  as  a  notably 
higher  stage  of  human  progress — "the  new  epoch 
as  developed  by  the  manufacture  of  power."  Some 
knowledge  and  control  of  the  powers  of  nature — 
of  fire  or  of  plant  growth,  for  example — is  neces- 
sary for  even  the  lowest  plane  of  civilization.  But 
when,  as  it  were  only  yesterday,  men  began  to  get 
possession  of  such  forces  as  steam  and  electricity — 


The  KirigdoNi  of  God  Realized         333 

whose  "touch  is  flame"  and  whose  "kiss  is  death" — 
they  began  to  change  incalculably  and  in  every  di- 
rection the  life  of  the  world.  It  was  an  event  to  be 
written  in  all  subsequent  history  when  Magellan, 
the  bold  Portuguese  sailor,  sacrificing  Ms  life  in 
the  enterprise,  made  a  voyage  round  the  globe. 
Think  of  the  wings  of  lightning  on  which  men  are 
mingling  and  speaking  and  dealing  with  one  an- 
other, round  and  round  the  globe,  to-da}'.  The 
muscular  force  employed  in  erecting  the  Great 
Pyramid  has  made  it  a  wonder  of  the  ages;  but 
a  force  equal  to  the  lifting  and  placing  of  every 
one  of  its  huge  blocks  of  stone  is  "generated" — 
according  to  the  estimate  of  a  distinguished  Amer- 
ican engineer,  Mr.  George  S.  Morison — "in  a  mod- 
ern steamship  in  a  single  voyage  across  the  At- 
lantic." One  man,  through  modern  knowledge, 
is  able — shall  we  say,  to  do  the  work  of  thousands  ? 
Eather  let  us  say  that  one  man,  through  modern 
knowledge,  is  able  to  direct  the  energies  of  nature 
for  the  doing  of  the  world's  work,  to  an  extent 
that  is  practically  limitless.  The  word  of  proph- 
ecy has  found  a  physical  fulfillment :  the  feeble 
among  us  are  become  as  David,  and  the  house  of 
David  "as  the  angel  of  Jehovah."^ 

What  must  be  the  effect?  Greatly  to  change 
both  the  opportunities  and  the  methods  of  business, 
government,  education,  moral  reformation,  Chris- 

'Zech.  xii.  8.  George  S.  Morison,  "The  New  Epoch," 
p.  5  ff. 


334  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

tian  evangelism,  all  broad  human  intercourse  and 
cooperation — every  change  meaning  greater  effi- 
ciency— unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  For  the  phys- 
ical discoveries  and  inventions,  with  their  com- 
mand of  power,  will  go  everywhere;  so  that  na- 
tional isolation  has  even  now  become  impossible, 
and  the  savage  and  barbarous  modes  of  living 
must  cease  to  be. 

If,  as  seems  likely,  we  are  only  at  the  beginning 
of  this  human  mastery  of  the  measureless  natural 
powers,  the  later  and  the  final  results  are  far  be- 
yond the  reach  of  any  imagination.  But  the  ques- 
tion arises.  May  not  these  results  be  evil  rather 
than  good,  or  at  least  evil  as  much  as  good?  may 
they  not  tend  to  degeneration  rather  than  real  up- 
building, and  thus  determine  men,  while  gaining 
the  whole  world,  to  lose  themselves  ? 

It  is  altogether  possible.  Increase  of  self-in- 
dulgence, oppression  of  the  poor,  worldliness,  gross 
materialism,  may  be  the  attendants  of  increasing 
material  productiveness.  But  similar  things  are 
true  of  all  the  great  gifts  with  which  God  has  been 
pleased  to  intrust  the  race.  Fire  may  be  used  to 
torture  an  enemy  or  burn  down  a  city;  letters 
may  take  the  form  of  corrupting  literature ;  Chris- 
tianity itself  may  be  abused  into  an  occasion  of 
idolatries,  persecutions,  unholy  ambitions,  and 
bloody  wars.  Yet  from  age  to  age  God,  giving 
larger  and  larger  gifts  to  men,  lays  upon  them 
the  responsibility  of  power,  as  they  are  able  to  bear 


The  KingdoTKi  of  God  Realized         335 

it ;  and  the  general  outcome  is  the  growth  and  the 
good  of  mankind. 

Where,  then,  is  our  faith  in  the  living  God? 
Who  has  forbidden  the  Church  to  continue  to 
sing,  with  heart  vinforced  and  jubilant,  the  psalm 
of  "Hope  thou  in  God" — even  in  him  who,  imma- 
nent in  nature  and  in  the  individual  soul,  is  no 
less  truly  immanent  in  human  history  ?  Shall  not 
the  stupendous  command  of  natural  forces  which 
men  are  now  wielding,  and  which,  certain  not  to 
diminish,  promises  enormously  to  increase,  while 
fearfully  abused,  as  it  surely  will  be — shall  it  not 
become,  under  the  unseen  guiding  Hand,  more  and 
more  a  means  of  the  highest  good  of  the  world? 
Shall  it  not  make  for  international  good  will,  for 
the  banishing  of  ignorance  and  prejudice,  for 
large-heartedness  and  peace,  for  the  brotherhood 
of  man?  Are  there  no  precedents  to  show  that  it 
will  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  in  the  coming  of 
his  kingdom? 

Certain  earnest  and  sensitive  spirits,  let  it  be 
granted,  cannot  share  this  or  any  other  cheerful 
interpretation  of  the  signs  of  the  times.  They  are 
overborne  by  the  present  distress.  They  see  that 
which  is  dark  and  forbidding  rather  than  the  light 
of  a  far-reaching  purpose  brightening  unto  the 
perfect  day.  They  know  that  sin  abounds,  but 
find  it  hard  to  believe  that  grace  does  much  more 
abound.  They  see  the  black  and  awful  sky,  not 
the  celestial  power  and  glory  which  it  hides.    In 


336  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

some  instances,  their  mouths  are  overfull  of  eulo- 
gy of  "the  good  old  times"  (which  never  were) 
and  of  lamentation  over  the  present  degeneracy. 
The  more  hopeful  outlook  seems  to  them  little 
truer  than  desire  dreamily  mistaken  for  expecta- 
tion. 

The  king's  reply  to  his  prime  minister  is  the 
answer  to  all  such  complaints.  When  the  minis- 
ter was  loudly  deploring  the  corruption  in  morals 
and  manners  that  marked  his  times,  "I  have  no 
doubt  of  it,"  said  the  king,  "for  my  father  has 
told  me  that  his  grandfather  said  that  it  was  just 
so  in  his  day."  Given  to  neither  optimism  nor 
pessimism  (which  are  both  matters  of  tempera- 
ment rather  than  of  reason  or  faith),  the  clear- 
eyed  interpreter  of  history  offers  no  continuous 
lament  over  "the  tender  grace  of  a  day  that  is 
dead,"  but  a  calm  and  Joyful  assurance  that  "the 
best  is  yet  to  be."  "Some  of  us,"  sa3's  Dr.  F.  B. 
Meyer,  "used  to  think  that  the  twilight  in  which  we 
were  living  was  the  twilight  of  growing  darkness — 
that  the  world  was  getting  worse.  .  .  .  We 
have  now  learned  to  understand  that  the  twilight 
is  the  twilight  between  the  night  and  the  day." 

The  reason  and  the  heart  that  repose  not  upon 
Fate,  but  upon  the  living  God,  will  believe  indeed 
in  the  reality  of  that  which  is,  but  equally  in  the 
potentiality  of  that  which  ought  to  he. 

True,  there  are  grievous  delays  and  interrup- 
tions, and  many  retrogressions.    The  world  stream 


The  Kingdom  of  God  Realized        337 

zigzags  in  its  course,  stagnates  into  many  a  fever- 
stricken  marsh,  whirls  backward  in  many  an  eddy 
along  the  shore;  but  the  main  current,  as  noted 
from  age  to  age,  is  seen  to  keep  the  line  of  prog- 
ress. Slow,  as  men,  short-lived  and  short-sighted, 
count  slowness,  it  still  knows  its  direction.  What, 
then,  may  be  the  end  ? 


And  now  at  the  center  of  the  world's  life,  the 
very  heart  of  all  its  history,  is  the  Church  of  God. 
It  represents,  as  does  no  other  society,  ancient  or 
modern,  the  reign  of  God  in  holy  love  on  earth. 
It  is  the  outward  and  institutional,  though  at  the 
best  extremely  inadequate,  expression  of  his  king- 
dom. Its  task  is  to  exemplify  that  kingdom  of 
heaven  perfectly,  and  to  make  it  thus  not  only 
visible  but  universal.  Of  all  its  thought  and  effort, 
of  all  its  witnessing  and  warfare,  of  whatever 
sacrificial  service  it  has  rendered  to  men,  this 
is  the  consummation. 

A  distinguished  Christian  scholar  of  our  time 
has  said  that  it  is  impossible  to  be  enthuisastic 
about  the  Church  of  the  present  day.  However 
this  may  be  (and  many  of  us  cannot  at  all  share 
the  sentiment),  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  expe- 
riences of  the  Church,  along  the  path  in  which  the 
hand  of  God  has  led  it  hitherto,  have  included 
divers  prophetic  signs  of  its  promised  perpetuity 
and  power. 
22 


338  Tlie  Idea  of  the  Church 

Trace  its  earlier  histo^3^  During  the  period  of 
little  more  than  infantile  weakness,  in  Egypt,  in 
Canaan,  in  Babylon,  Israel  stood  trembling  more 
than  once  on  what  seemed  to  be  the  verge  of  de- 
struction. Apparentl}'  her  mission  had  well-nigh 
reached  a  disastrous  end.  But  it  was  not  so. 
Through  death  there  rose  up  a  new  and  larger 
life.  Out  of  Egypt  came  Moses,  the  nation,  the 
Law;  out  of  the  early  fearful  disorders  of  Canaan 
came  David,  the  monarchy,  the  temple,  the  proph- 
ets; out  of  Babylon,  the  land  of  exile,  came  the 
study  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  the  restored 
worship  of  Jehovah  nevermore  to  be  tainted  with 
idolatry — what  has  been  called  "the  birth  of  the 
Church."  Again  and  again  the  unbelief  of  the 
faint-hearted  was  rebuked  and  the  expectation  of 
the  men  of  faith  justified. 

Jehovah  taught  the  secret  of  it  all  to  his  serv- 
ants the  prophets.  It  was  simply  that  Ms  own 
word  and  his  own  hand  was  in  the  Church's  his- 
tory. When  Moses,  on  that  day  of  days  in  his 
shepherd  life,  led  his  flock  to  Mount  Horeb  and 
saw  the  bush  all  aflame  yet  unconsumed,  he  would 
draw  near  and  discover  if  possible  how  such  a 
thing  could  be.  Then  spake  the  Divine  Voice,  as 
it  were  out  of  the  midst  of  the  burning  bush,  I  am 
THAT  I  AM.  It  was  the  presence  of  the  Eternal  in 
the  Church  of  Israel  that  kept  her  indestructible 
in  the  midst  of  all  her  protracted  fiery  trials,  till 
his  purpose  should  be  accomplished. 


The  Kingdom  of  God  Realized        339 

When,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Restoration,  Ze- 
rubbabel  had  undertaken  to  rebiiild  the  long-de- 
molished temple  of  Jehovah,  there  was  sent  him 
a  true  prophet  with  a  message  for  the  time.  The 
difficulties  of  Zerubbabel's  undertaking  were  im- 
mense. It  was  as  if  an  impassable  mountain  had 
arisen  to  forbid  all  further  progress.  But  the 
word  of  Zechariah  was,  "Who  art  thou,  0  great 
mountain?  before  Zerubbabel  thou  shalt  become 
a  plain."  The  temple  and  its  worship  should  be 
restored.  The  Church  should  enter  upon  an  age 
of  larger  light,  holding  forth  the  Scriptures  of 
truth,  till  He  should  come  whose  will  it  was  to  re- 
deem and  whose  right  it  was  to  reign. 

Not,  however,  because  Zerubbabel  was  a  prince 
and  a  patriot,  planning  wisely  and  executing  with 
persistent  diligence;  and  not  because  of  his  co- 
laborers,  whoever  these  might  be.  The  real  ground 
of  confidence  lay  infinitely  deeper :  "Not  by  might 
nor  by  power,  but  hy  my  Spirit,  saith  Jehovah  of 
hosts.''^**  The  innermost  secret  of  success  was  the 
unchangeable  purpose  and  power  of  the  Eternal. 

When  the  God  of  heaven  would  reveal  this  same 
secret  to  the  prophet  Daniel,  in  the  capital  of  the 
Chaldean  Empire,  he  showed  him  the  vision  of  the 
little  stone  which  broke  in  pieces  the  huge  com- 
posite image,  and  growing  into  a  vast  mountain 
filled  the  whole  earth,  and  as  to  its  own  origin  was 
cut  out  without  hands.^^    There  is  the  central  and 

"Zech.  iv.  6,  7.      "Dan.  ii.  34,  35,  45. 


340  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

vivifying  truth  of  all  philosophy  of  history.  It  is 
no  less,  and  could  be  no  more,  than  the  purposeful 
work  of  "Him  who  is  invisible." 

The  whole  civilized  world,  it  would  seem,  was 
never  more  heartless  and  hopeless  than  during 
the  years  immediately  preceding  the  Christian  era. 
The  ancient  civilizations  had  fallen  to  pieces. 
Eome  had  absorbed  everything,  and  was  now,  in 
her  wealth  and  wickedness,  making  life  a  bitter- 
ness and  a  despair.  The  ancient  pagan  faiths  were 
decadent.  They  had  lost  their  primal  power  upon 
the  minds  of  men.  Philosophy,  at  best  the  pos- 
session of  a  small  select  circle,  did  not  satisfy  the 
needs  of  the  spirit.  Animalism,  atheism,  slavery, 
bloodshed,  excess  of  riot,  loss  of  the  higher  ideals, 
weariness  and  disgust,  were  the  moral  characteris- 
tics of  the  age.  The  world  seemed  old,  outworn, 
purposeless.    It  was  a  dreadful  time. 

In  Judea  the  dry  rot  of  formalism  had  eaten 
away  the  heart  of  piety.  There  was  the  temple 
with  its  offerings,  and  the  synagogues  with  their 
schools  and  prayers  and  Scripture  readings  and 
homilies ;  and  there  were  a  few  faithful  souls,  as 
always,  with  their  faces  toward  God  and  the 
morning, 

Who  saw  the  bright  beams  of  the  coming  day 

Far  through  the  blackness  of  th'  enshrouding  night. 

But  prominently  and  generally  religion  had  be- 
come a  performance.  The  Law  was  made  of  no 
effect  by  puerile  and  tyrannous  traditions.     For 


Ths  Kingdom  of  God  Realized         341 

hundreds  of  years  no  prophet  had  arisen  with  an 
immediate  message  from  Jehovah,  to  clear  the 
moral  atmosphere  and  open  anew  the  springs  of 
truth. 

But  it  was  amidst  this  very  darkness  that  the 
Light  of  the  World  dawned  in  splendor.  In  this 
dreary  and  unpromising  age  came  the  Supreme 
Good.  Seeking  not  his  own,  the  Man  of  Calvary 
gave  his  life  that  men  might  have  life  very  abun- 
dantly. The  Church  of  the  New  Covenant  began 
to  be  builded.  Men  went  forth  to  tell  with  tongues 
of  fire  the  word  of  the  Cross  and  the  Resurrection. 
God  was  found  as  a  Father  and  Eedeemer  recon- 
ciled in  Jesus  Christ.  A  new  world  of  spiritual 
facts,  ideas,  and  forces,  of  the  freedom  of  sonship 
and  brotherhood  in  the  Son  of  God,  was  created. 
It  is  our  own  present  and  familiar  heritage. 

And  now  when  the  Fulfiller  of  both  law  and 
prophecy,  the  sinless  Christ,  having  come  as  it  was 
written  of  him,  declares  that  against  the  Church 
which  he  will  build  the  gates  of  death  shall  not 
prevail,  that  from  the  cross  he  will  be  drawing  all 
men  unto  himself,  that  he  is  still  the  Coming  One 
and  will  reign  in  the  undisputed  glory  of  his  king- 
dom— it  is  both  a  reasoned  belief  and  the  trust  of 
the  heart  that  responds,  "Even  so,  come.  Lord 
Jesus." 

VI 

From  the  outset  of  this  ecclesiological  study,  it 
has  seemed  quite  clear  that  the  only  business  of 


342  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

the  Church,  its  one  reason  to  be,  is  to  promote  the 
coming  of  the  heavenly  Father's  kingdom,  which 
is  the  doing  of  his  will,  on  earth.  Upon  these  last 
pages  let  the  thought  be.  What  is  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom  ? 

First  and  essentiall}^  it  is  personal  salvation. 
The  kingdom  of  God  enters  the  heart  as  invisibl}' 
as  does  the  spirit  of  Truth — which,  indeed,  is  an- 
other name  by  which  it  might  be  called.  To  bo 
l)orn  of  the  Spirit,  that  is  to  know  the  kingdom 
of  God.  One  by  one  are  its  subjects  gained.  The 
same  infallible  Teacher,  who  bade  his  disciples 
pray  for  the  universal  doing  of  the  will  of  the 
Father  who  is  in  heaven,  likened  the  kingdom  of 
God  to  a  "pearl  of  great  price"  which  a  man  must 
buy  for  himself  at  the  cost  of  all  that  he  has. 

The  Church,  therefore,  must  do  the  work  of  an 
evangelist;  and  every  real  hearer  of  the  real  gos- 
pel is  either  saved  or  condemned. 

But  in  immediate  connection  with  this  doc- 
trine of  personal  salvation  is  the  social  idea,  which 
is  not  only  contained  in  the  very  word  kingdom 
but  is  everywhere  present  in  the  Gospels.  It  is 
that  of  fraternity,  spiritual  fellow-citizenship,  as 
this  expresses  itself  in  the  Christian  congregation. 

Then,  there  is  another  sense  in  which  Jesus 
speaks  of  the  coming  of  the  kingdom.  He  speaks 
of  it  prophetically  as  a  distinct  historical  event 
(ly  irapovtria) — namely,  as  the  displacement  of  the 
earlier  form  of  the  Kingdom  by  the  later  and  lar- 


Tlic  Kingdom  of  God  Realized         343 

ger,  the  Church  of  Israel  by  the  Christian  Eccle- 
sia. 

For  it  was  of  the  future  that  he  spoke  when  he 
declared,  "I  will  build  my  Church."  When?  At 
the  time  of  the  declaration  of  this  great  purpose, 
Jesus  was  nearing  the  cross.  ^\Tien  should  he 
gather,  on  the  rock  of  professing  discipleship,  his 
Congregation?  Not  until  he  should  be  made 
known  as  Lord  and  Saviour  in  the  Eesurreetion. 
Then,  introducing  this  new  era  in  the  spiritual 
order  of  the  world,  would  be  given  the  fullness  of 
the  interpreting  and  sanctifying  Spirit.  Upon 
this  would  follow  the  apostolic  preaching  with  its 
unprecedented  signs  of  power;  the  gathering  of 
Christian  congregations  in  Israel  and  afar  in  the 
Gentile  world;  and  Israel's  judgment  day.  This 
coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  the  building  of  his 
Church  was  a  manifest  coming  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.  "There  be  some  of  them  that  stand  here 
who  shall  in  no  wise  taste  of  death  till  they  see  the 
Son  of  Man  coming  in  his  kingdom."^^ 

Is  it  not  also  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the 
New  Testament  to  speak  of  any  notable  spiritual 
awakening  or  advance  of  Christianity,  in  similar 
language?  The  triumph  of  the  early  evangelism 
in  the  rise  of  the  Catholic  Church,  the  Prot- 
estant Eeformation,  the  Evangelical  Eevival  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  a  revival  in  any  Chris- 
tian community  at  any  time  in  which  all  men  are 

"Matt.  xvi.  28.    Cf.  Matt.  x.  23. 


QU  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

made  to  feel  somewhat  of  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation — such  larger  movements  of  "the  powers 
of  the  age  to  come,"  whether  noted  or  nnknown, 
are  special  fulfillments  of  the  prayer  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  Father's  kingdom. 

But  the  end  is  not  yet.  All  people  are  to  re- 
ceive that  law  of  the  Lord  which  is  perfect,  con- 
verting the  soul.  Are  any  elect  ?  It  is  an  election 
to  others'  service.  Is  the  whole  world  to  be  civil- 
ized ?  It  is  also  to  be  evangelized.  Are  the  king- 
doms of  knowledge  and  civil  freedom  and  indus- 
trial achievement  to  come  universally?  So  like- 
wise is  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

O  King  of  earth,  the  Cross  ascend! 
O'er  climes  and  ages  'tis  thy  throne. 

The  truth  of  self-renouncing  love  in  its  supreme 
Example,  even  that  of  God  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  unto  himself,  this  Truth  of  truths,  this 
Divine  sacrificial  love,  will  prevail. 

VII 

It  is  a  process  of  growth,  through  successive 
stages,  unto  an  abundant  fruitage.  Looking  at  a 
handful  of  wheat  with  an  instructed  eye,  one  may 
see  the  loaded  wains  bearing  the  harvest  home. 
But  not  to-day  nor  to-morrow  will  the  vision  be 
realized.  When  the  green  blades  begin  to  appear, 
one  knows  not  how,  above  the  darkness  of  the  soil, 
there  is  a  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  in  the  seed; 


The  Kmgdom  of  God  Realized         345 

when  the  ear  is  forming  on  the  strongly  built 
stalk,  there  is  a  larger  fulfUlment;  when  the 
ripened  grain  fills  the  ear,  there  is  the  fulfillment 
of  the  whole  unfolding  prophecy.^'"'  Thus,  in  our 
Lord's  parable  of  the  Seed  Growing  Secretly,  do 
we  read  the  history  of  God's  kingdom,  not  only  in 
the  hidden  power  that  makes  it  what  it  is,  but  also 
in  its  orderly  progress  and  manifestation.  "The 
earth  beareth  fruit  of  herself ;  first,  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  story  of  the  grain  field 
is  not  wholly  a  story  of  growth  and  ripening. 
When,  all  over  the  field,  the  perfected  wheat  is  in 
the  ear,  there  is  an  ending  which  is  at  the  same 
time  the  beginning  of  a  new  and  extremely  dif- 
ferent life  history.  Behold  now  the  reaper  with 
his  scythe.  "When  the  fruit  is  ripe  straightway  he 
putteth  forth  the  sickle,  because  the  harvest  is 
come."  So  likewise  with  the  kingdom  of  God. 
After  the  ffion  of  growth  and  ripening,  another 
appearing  of  the  Son  of  Man  to  introduce  the  aeon 
that  is  still  to  come.  "The  harvest  is  the  end  of 
the  world;  and  the  reapers  are  angels."^* 

As  in  Israel  there  was  growth  in  knowledge  and 

I'Mark  iv.  26-29. 

"Matt.  xiii.  39.  Cf.  passages  in  which  Jesus  teacn- 
es  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  an  inner  personal  pos- 
session (Matt.  vi.  33;  xiii.  44;  Mark  x.  15;  xii.  34; 
Luke  xvii.  20,  21)  with  those  in  which  he  speaks  of  it 
as  extending  gradually  throughout  the  world  (Matt. 
xiii.  31,  32;   xxiv.  14;  xxvi.  13;  Mark  iv.  26-29),  and 


346  The  Idea  of  the  Church 

faith,  through  the  progressive  Divine  self-revela- 
tion and  redeeming  activity,  and  then,  in  the  full- 
ness of  time,  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
so  in  the  Church  of  the  New  Covenant,  there  is  to 
be  growth,  enlargement,  progress,  through  the  mil- 
lenniums, and  then,  again  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
another  and  still  more  manifest  coming  of  the  Son 
of  God  in  the  power  and  glory  of  his  kingdom. 

What  shall  be  the  particular  manner  of  this 
final  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ  has  not  been  given 
us  to  know.  It  is  in  apocalyptic  imagery  that  the 
great  reality  is  foreshown.  Let  the  event  inter- 
pret the  prophecy.    Let  the  Day  declare  it. 

It  was  so  at  his  first  coming.  Israel's  expecta- 
tion was  disappointed  in  the  letter  but  crowned 
with  honor  in  the  spirit.  Not  even  the  deepest- 
seeing  prophet  or  the  best-instructed  disciple,  an 
Isaiah  or  a  Simon  Peter,  could  know  the  mystery 
of  atoning  love  till  it  should  be  declared  by  the 
cross  itself  and  the  Eisen  One.  So  likewise  will 
his  second  coming,  when  the  nations  shall  bring 
their  glory  and  honor  into  the  heaven-descended 
City,  be  declared  in  its  time. 

It  will  be  a  coming  in  judgment.  "As  there- 
fore the  tares  are  gathered  up  and  burned  with 
fire,  so  shall  it  be  in  the  end  of  the  world."  It 
will  be  a  coming  in  the  completed  glory  of  re- 

those  in  which  he  sets  forth  his  advent  for  judgment 
at  the  end  of  the  age  (Matt.  xiii.  41-43;  xxv.  31-46, 
29-31). 


The  Kingdom  of  God  Realized        347 

demption.     "Then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth 
as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father."^^ 

We  know  that  the  consummation  shall  be  in- 
finitely more  than  worthy  of  all  the  witnessing  and 
work  of  the  Church  in  all  the  lives  that  have  been 
freely  poured  out  in  its  service.  It  will  satisfy  the 
Divine  sacrificial  and  ministering  love.  It  will  be 
worthy  of  the  eternal  purpose  of  truth  and  grace 
in  Jesus  Christ. 

Shall  we  hear  a  concluding  word  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament revelation,  in  the  prophetic  vision  of  the 
Holy  City  ?  "And  I  saw  no  temple  therein,  for  the 
liOrd  God  the  Almighty,  and  the  Lamb,  are  the 
toinple  thereof."  There  is  music  and  singing — 
"the  voice  of  harpers  harping  with  their  harps, 
and  they  sing  as  it  were  a  new  song"  ;  for  these  are 
symbols  of  the  overbrimming  joy  of  harmony  witli 
eternal  law  and  love.  But  no  holiest  place,  no 
temple,  no  mediation  of  ordinances.  For  the  chil- 
dren of  the  King,  each  and  all,  behold  his  face  in 
righteousness,  the  Kingdom  imperfectly  repre- 
sented heretofore  is  now  realized  in  glory,  and — 
the  idea  of  the  Church  is  fulfilled. 

I'^Matt.  xiii.  40,  43. 


INDEX 

Anabaptists,  advocated  the  free  church,  i4S-145. 

Anskar,  309. 

Apostles,  did  not  quit  the  Church  of  Israel,  30,  31. 

Arnold  of  Rugby,  286. 

Augustine  of  Hippo,  5. 

Augustine  the  Apostle  of  the  English,  309  n. 

Bacon,  Francis,  94. 
Baeda,  307  n.,  309  n. 
Bainbridge,  T.  H.,  219  n. 
Bancroft,  George,  150  n. 

Baptism,  Christian,  did  not  separate  from  Church  of 
Israel,  30,  31. 

took  the  place  of  circumcision,  42. 

as  given  to  infants,  54. 

not  necessary  in  same  sense  as  faith  in  Christ,  86, 
87. 

as  held  by  Baptists,  87. 
Barclay,  Robert,  212  n. 
Basil  the  Great,  264  n. 
Baxter,  Richard,  217. 
Beneficence,  as  a  church  function,  254,  255. 

in  the  Church  of  Israel,  255-259. 

as  exemplified  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  259-262. 

in  the  apostolic  and  the  post-apostolic  age,  262-265. 

the  present  demand  for,  266-268. 

exemplified  in  the  Open  Church,  268. 
Bible,  teaching  of,  in  public  schools,  154-159. 
Bishop,  made  favor  with  the  State,  130,  131. 
Bohler,  Peter,  314. 
Boniface  the  Apostle  of  the  Germans,  309. 

(349) 


350  Index 

Booth,  Bramwell,  295  n. 

Booth,  Catherine,  296  n. 

Booth,  William,  294. 

Bossuet,  290. 

Brethren,  a  church  name,  51. 

Brown,  C.  R.,  257  n. 

Brown,  O.  E.,  196. 

Browning,  Robert,  202. 

Bryce,  James,  78  n.,  134  n.,  146  n. 

Calvin,  143,  311. 
Carey,  "William,  317. 
Celsus,  214. 

Chalmers,  Thomas,  269. 
Charlemagne,  133,  147. 

Church,  the,  as  the  institutional  form  of  God's  king- 
dom, 8,  9. 

how  spoken  of  in  Gospels  and  Epistles,  9-11. 

final  cause  of,  17,  318-320. 

continuity  of,  26,  27,  32-34. 

Christ  the  head  of,  34,  35. 

misconceptions  of  practical  workings  of,  17-20. 

actual  and  ideal,  21,  22. 

Jesus  promised  to  build,  29,  30. 

why  not  called  in   New  Testament  the  Church  of 
Christ,  33-35. 

defined,  35,  36. 

early  progress  of,  39,  40. 

formation  of,  as  illustrated  at  Pentecost,  49-51. 

not  a  mere  voluntary  association,  57,  58. 

in  what  sense  a  mother,  203. 

as  the  body  of  Christ,  235,  236. 
Cities,  in  need  of  evangelization,  281-284. 

London  an  example  of,  284,  285. 
Church  and  State,  delicate  relations  of,  119,  120. 

in  ancient  heathendom,  120. 

in  ancient  Israel,  120-123, 


Index  351 

in  New  Testament  times,  124,  125. 

in  post-apostolic  times,  125-128. 

under  Constantine  and  liis  successors,  128,  129. 

relations  of,  not  changed  by  Reformation,  138-140. 

papal  and  State  Church  theories  of,  compared,  146. 
147. 

argument  for  union  of,  with  reply,  147-149. 

non-alliance  of,  in  the  United  States,  149-152. 

cooperation  of,  152-154. 

union  of,  not  favorable  to  foreign  missions,  305-307. 
Church  of  Israel,  the,  fulfillment  of,  in  Christ,  24,  25. 

ordinances  of,  observed  by  Christ,  24,  25. 

not  directly  missionary,  300,  301. 

indirectly  missionary,  301,  302. 
Clarke,  Adam,  26. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  80  n. 
Cobb,  S.  H.,  150  n. 
Coe,  G.  A.,  157. 
Columba,  309. 
Columbus,  169. 
Communion,  of  humanity,  44,  45. 

religious,  45-47. 

Christian,  48. 
Congregation,  English  rendering  of  ecclesia,  27,  28. 

old  English  for  church,  39  n. 

an  expression  of  communion,  48. 

meetings  of,  71-74. 

originally  assembled  in  dwelling  houses,  78-81. 
Congregationalism,  as  a  form  of  Church  government, 

102. 
Conwell,  Russell  H.,  277  n. 
Constantine,  128,  138,  147. 

Cooperation  of  Churches,  demand  for,  in  local  com- 
munities, 192-194. 

demand  for,  in  mission  fields,  194,  195. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  216,  217. 
Cyprian  of  Carthas-e,  Sa,  2G8. 


352  Index 

Dale,  R.  W.,  146  n. 

Dawson,  Albert,  268  n. 

De  Forest,  195  n. 

Denominationalism,  asserted  advantages  of,  165-170. 

evils  of,  170-180. 

whether  Inevitable,  183-187. 
Dickinson,  C.  A.,  267  n. 

Disciples,  not  distinctively  a  church  name,  51. 
Dixon,  A.  C,  274  n. 
Duff,  Alexander,  318. 

Eastern  Church,  national,  136,  137. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  20. 

Epictetus,  65. 

Episcopacy,  as  a  form  of  church  government,  103,  104. 

Ethelbert,  309. 

Federation  of  Churches,  a  sign  of  the  times,  187, 
188. 
not  a  mark  of  indifferentism,  188,  190. 
must  begin  at  each  church's  own  door,  190,  191. 
methods  of  accomplishing,  191-195. 
must  be  from  within  outward,  196-20G. 
Fellowship  with  Christ,  as  the  formative  principle  of 

the  Church.  56,  57. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  216,  309. 
Freemantle,  Canon,  12  n. 

Friends,    regard    baptism   and   the   Lord's   Supper   as 
temporary,  87. 

Gibbons,  Cardinal,  191. 
Giesler,  142  n. 

Gladden,  Washington,  277  u. 
Gore,  Charles,  11  n. 
Granbery,  J.  C,  202. 
Gregory  the  Great,  308. 
GrifRs,  W.  E.,  44  n. 


Index  353 

Hall,  Charles  Cuthbebt,  169  n. 

Hallam,  Henry,  133  n. 

Hatch,  Edwin,  306  n. 

Heermance,  204  n. 

Henderson,  C.  R.,  288  n. 

Hendrix,  B.  R.,  202. 

Henry  VIH.,  147. 

Hermas,  225  n. 

Hildebrand,  134,  135,  136. 

Hodges,  George,  172  n.,  191  n. 

Hooker,  Richard,  148. 

Hooker,  Thomas,  52  n. 

Hort,  F.  J.  A.,  11  n.,  29  n.,  34  n.,  39  n.,  75  n. 

Hughes,  Hugh  Price,  288,  289. 

Hugo,  Victor,  331. 

Human  nature,  sinfulness  of,  321. 

moral  possibilities  of,  322. 
Hyde,  W.  DeW.,  176  n.,  275  n. 

Independents,  advocated  the  free  church,  143-145. 
Innes,  A.  T.,  142  n. 
Innocent  III.,  135. 

JosLYN,  A.  J.,  172  n. 

Judson,  Edward,  228  n.,  269  n.,  270  n. 

Justin  Martyr,  5,  263. 

Ker,  John,  315  n. 

Kingdom  of  God,  the,  definition  of,  4,  6,  7. 

in  Israel,  5,  6. 

embodiments  of,  7,  8. 

not  identical  with  Church,  11-13. 

as  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  15,  16. 

militant  aspect  of,  20,  21. 

in  Israel  and  in  Christianity,  23,  24. 

to  be  universally  realized,  325,  326. 

as  coming  to  individuals,  342. 

in  successive  manifestations,  342-344. 
23 


354  Index 

final  coming  of,  344,  347. 

as  a  growth  and  a  parousia,  344-346. 
Kingsley,  Charles,  286. 
Kostlln,  142. 

Ladd,  G.  T.,  91  n.,  94,  149  n.,  319  n. 
Laurentius  the  Deacon,  264. 
Law,  in  physical  world,  323,  324. 

in  mental  and  moral  world,  324. 

religious  significance  of,  324,  325. 
Leihnitz,  290. 
Liddon,  Canon,  29S. 
Lindsay,  T.  M.,  74  n. 
Litton,  E.  A.,  71  n. 
Livingstone,  David,  318. 
Loomis,  S.  L.,  283  n. 
Lord's  Supper,  the,  not  necessary  in  same  sense  as 

faith  in  Christ,  86,  87. 
Luther,  49  n.,  69  n.,  140,  141,  142,  311. 

Mackensie,  J.  K.,  318. 

Magellan,  333. 

Mann,  Horace,  58,  155  n. 

Mantle,  J.  G.,  171  n.,  190  n. 

Marcion,  170  n. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  65. 

Mazzini,  280. 

McCulloch,  J.  E.,  277  n.,  289  n.,  290  n. 

Mead,  G.  W.,  268  n.,  277  n. 

Membership  in  Church,  infants  not  wholly  excluded 

from,  53-56. 
Mendicant  orders,  missionary  work  of,  309-311. 
Methodism,  missionary  character  of,  314,  315. 
Meyer,  F.  B.,  336. 
Milton,  94. 

Ministry,  of  government,  100. 
prophetic,  100. 


Index  355 

Missionary  work,  an  essential  part  of  church  activity, 
279,  305. 

the  same  at  home  and  abroad,  279,  280. 

need  of,  at  home,  280,  281. 

the  same  in  all  ages,  299. 

as  organized  by  our  Lord,  303,  304. 

as  represented  by  the  apostles,  303-305. 

in  the  post-apostolic  age,  305. 

how  organized,  316. 

marked  events  of,  316,  317. 

comprehensiveness  of,  317,  318. 

prospects  of,  318. 
Monastery,  the,  missionary  work  of,  307-309. 
Moore,  C.  W.,  270  n. 
Moore,  E.  C,  77. 
Moravian  Church,  71. 
Morison,  George  S.,  333. 
Mystery,  not  a  stumbling-block  to  faith,  327. 

Nash,  H.  S.,  153  n. 

Office  in  the  Church,  embodies  the  idea  of  service, 
113,  114. 

must  not  be  selfishly  sought,  114-118. 
Open  Church,  the,  not  essentially  new,  268,  263. 

definition  of,  269-272. 

will  it  lead  to  over-organization?  272,  273. 

will  it  pauperize  its  beneficiaries?  273-275. 

does  it  undertake  too  much?  275,  276. 

will  it  lose  spiritual  power?  276. 

will  it  encroach  upon  the  devotional  hour?  277,  278. 

examples  of,  in  London,  285. 
Organization,  every  assembly  tends  toward,  95. 

every  community  tends  toward,  95-S7. 

should  be  organism  rather  than  mechanism,  110-113. 
Organization    of   the   Church,    not   necessary   to    the 
church  idea,  52,  89,  90. 

not  originally  intercongregational,  74-77. 


356  Index 

inevitableness  of,  illustrated  in  New  Testament,  97- 
99. 

form  of,  could  not  have  been  foreseen,  101. 

papal  idea  of,  102. 

congregational  idea  of,  102. 

presbyterial  idea  of,  103. 

episcopal  idea  of,  103,  104. 

an  embodiment  of  ideas,  105. 

outward  circumstances  influence,  106. 

original  in  principle  and  method,  107-109. 
Organization  of  the  laity,  a  sign  of  life,  205-207. 

as  taught  in  New  Testament,  207-209. 

checked  by  officialism,  215. 

in  the  monastery,  215,  216. 

in  Protestantism,  216-222. 

examples  of,  221. 

for  gratuitous  service,  224. 

as  representing  all  church  functions,  231-235. 
Origan,  214. 

Pap.\cy,  as  a  form  of  church  government,  102. 

demanded  subjection  of  State  to  Church,  131-135. 
Parker,  Joseph,  166. 
Parkman,  Francis,  46. 
Pastor,  also  a  leader,  203,  204,  219,  220. 

as  an  organizer,  222-224. 
Perry,  G.  G.,  146. 
Pius  X.,  136. 
Polity  of  the  Church,  not  prescribed,  38-42. 

first  great  question  in,  40,  41. 
Preaching,  by  laymen,  209-213. 

privilege  of,  abused,  213,  214. 

a  gratuitous  service,  225-227. 

as  a  function  of  the  Church,  236-239. 

as  illustrated  in  Methodism,  239,  240. 
Presbyterianism,   as  a  form  of  church  government, 
103. 


Index  357 

Protestant  Reformers,   not   consistent   as   to   Church 
and  State,  140-143. 

Recognizability  of  the  Church,  by  its  creed,  82-84. 

by  its  spiritual  life,  84-86. 

by  its  ordinances,  86. 

as  destroyed  by  errors,  88-91. 
Reformation,  the  Protestant,  not  a  missionary  move- 
ment, 311-313. 
Robinson,  Stuart,  312  n. 

Sabbath,  the,  fulfilled  in  the  Lord's  day,  42. 

as  a  civil  institution,  154. 
Saints,  significance  of,  as  a  church  name,  52. 
Salvation  Army,  origin  of,  294. 

government  of,  294,  295. 

social  work  of,  295,  296. 

not  a  church,  296. 

grotesqueness  of,  296-298. 
Schaff,  Philip,  49  n.,  69  n. 
Schism,  an  abuse  of  liberty,  161,  162. 

how  prevented,  162,  163. 

who  is  responsible  for,  163,  164. 
Schiirer,  243  n.,  244  n. 

Sectarianism,  promoted  by  ignorance,  181,  182. 
Sheppard,  William  H.,  45. 
Social  Settlement,  the,  origin  of,  286,  287. 

method  of,  286,  287. 

extension  of,  287,  288. 
Spiritual  gifts,  may  be  craved,  114,  115. 

for  sake  of  service,  114,  115. 
Spiritual  nurture,  as  a  church  function,  249-252. 

as  needed  by  the  young,  252,  253. 
Spurgeon,  167. 
Stapfer,  244  n. 
Stead,  W.  T.,  298  n. 


358  Index 

Strong,  Josiah,  202,  277  n.,  287  n. 
Sunday  school,  a  form  of  lay  service,  227,  228. 
a  teaching  institution,  246, 

Taylob,  Isaac,  202,  219  n.,  313  n. 
Teaching,  as  a  church  function,  240,  241. 

an  element  of  preaching  and  worship,  242,  243. 

in  the  Church  of  the  Old  Covenant,  243,  244. 

in  the  post-apostolic  church,  244,  245. 

in  Protestantism,  245,  246. 

through  Christian  schools,  246-248. 

through  literature,  248,  249. 
Telford,  John,  213  n.,  219  n. 
Tertullian,  57  n.,  94. 
Theocracy,  in  Israel,  121-123. 

the  true  principle  of  civil  government,  150,  151. 
Thoburn,  C.  M.,  45,  48. 
Thurber,  C.  H.,  158  n. 
Thwing,  C.  T.,  223  n. 
Toynbee,  Arthur,  287. 
Trench,  R.  C,  11  n. 
Trumbull,  H.  C,  250. 

Unity  of  the  Church,  not  through  external  pressure, 

43. 
taught  by  Christ,  59. 
shown  in  Pauline  Epistles,  60-63. 
means  of,  63. 

as  determined  by  the  personality  of  Christ,  64-66. 
as  seen  from  the  divine  side,  66-68. 
as  exemplified  in  the  early  Church,  76-78. 
Universality  of  God's  kingdom,  signs  of,  in  the  earth, 

328-330. 
signs  of,  in  human  history,  330-335. 
lack  of  faith  in,  335-337. 
signs  of,  in  the  history  of  Church,  337-341. 
manner  of,  unknown,  346. 


Index  359 

Visibility  of  the  Church,  a  universal  note,  69-71. 
Vos,  G.,  7  n. 

Wagner,  Charles,  202. 

Wesley,  5,  217,  218,  268  n.,  291,  314. 

Wesleyan  Forward  Movement,  origin  of,  288-290. 

criticism  of,  290,  291. 

methods  of,  291-293. 
White,  J.  Campbell,  219  n. 
Whitefield,  315. 
Whyte,  Alexander,  179  n. 

Worship,  Christian,  no  form  of  prescribed,  37,  38. 
Wright,  C.  D.,  283  n. 
Wyclif,  202. 

Young  People's  Societies,  a  form  of  lay  service,  228, 
229. 

ZwiNGLi,  69  n. 


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